Persistence of valvar lesions in patients who had subclinical (only echocardiographic) or clinical (auscultatory) carditis at entry, when re-examined one and five years after the episode of acute rheumatic fever (ARF)
| Valve involvement during ARF episode | Persisting lesions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| After 1 year | After 5 years | ||||
| Clinical (n=15) | 8/14 | 3/5 | |||
| Subclinical (n=10) | 4/9 | 3/6 | |||
The percentage of clinical and subclinical valve lesions still detectable after follow up was not different after one year (p = 0.68) or five years (p = 1.0).