STUDIES IN RHEUMATIC DISEASE. V. THE AGE AT ONSET OF PRIMARY RHEUMATIC ATTACK

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The group for study was a generation of the families of 96 consecutive admissions because of rheumatic disease to the Cardiac Clinic of the Harriet Lane Home, and consisted of parents, uncles and aunts of these admissions (index cases). The accuracy of the data and various possible errors in the histories are recognized and discussed. The age of onset of 115 cases of rheumatic disease occurring in the generation was found to fall most frequently between the ages of 5-14 and 25-34 yrs. The relative risk of developing the disease was detd. by dividing the number of onsets at each age by the person-yrs. at risk for the corresponding age to obtain an annual incidence rate. This risk was found to be greatest between the ages of 5-14 and 25-34 yrs.