Demographic, clinical, laboratorial, and radiological characteristics of rheumatic fever in Brazil: systematic review

Rheumatic fever (RF) is characterized by a non-suppurative inflammatory process that begins after a group A betahemolytic streptococci infection. Its prevalence is higher in developing countries, such as Brazil. However, in our country, systematic epidemiologic data on the disease are scarce and incomplete. Rheumatic fever has an estimated incidence of 3% among Brazilian children and adolescents. We undertook a systematic review of the main Brazilian studies using the LILACS, Scielo, and Medline databases searching for expressions like Febre Reumática and Rheumatic Fever. Ten epidemiological studies were selected and comparative analysis did not show a predominance of gender, clinical presentation, and laboratorial and radiological parameters in the different regions of the country.