The occurrence of heart disease in rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis has been known for a considerable time, but its exact incidence and status has been the subject of much controversy, further confused by the North American inclusion of both diseases under one heading. In a survey of the subject in 1950, Bywaters distinguished three combinations: patients with rheumatoid arthriti...

The clinical aspects of rheumatic heart disease in relation to pregnancy are reviewed in a combined series of patients chiefly from the Newcastle General Hospital studied over a period of 28 years, and from the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh studied over 25 years. In both centres, since about I960, there has been a progressive decrease in the number of patientsfound in antenatal clinics ...

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of sustained cardiac arrhythmia in adults, accounting for one-third of hospitalizations due to arrhythmia and related complications worldwide. Previously, rheumatic heart disease was documented as the commonest cause of AF in sub-Saharan Africa. However, due to the prevailing epidemiological transition in sub-Saharan Africa, the risk f...