ArticleGlobal heart2026
Rheumatic Heart Disease in Europe: Insights from a Pilot Screening Study and a Scoping Review.
Article in Global heart, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains a preventable cause of cardiovascular morbidity/mortality, disproportionately affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. While largely controlled in high-income countries, RHD persists in low- and middle-income countries and may remain underrecognized among migrants from endemic regions in Europe, where systematic surveillance data are lacking. This study aimed to explore the implementation and diagnostic yield of echocardiographic screening in a migrant population and to contextualize these findings through a scoping review of European RHD research. Methods: We conducted a single-center pilot study in Munich, Germany, screening 150 recently-arrived migrants (aged 5-26 years) from RHD-endemic regions using 2023 World Heart Federation (WHF) echocardiographic criteria. Medical history was documented. Furthermore, we conducted a scoping literature review of European studies reporting RHD published since 2000, in accordance with Cochrane and PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO ID: CRD42024538000). Results: Among screened participants (mean age 20.0 ± 5.9 years), ten (6.8%) showed abnormalities warranting confirmatory echocardiography according to the WHF protocol for RHD diagnosis, with mitral regurgitation being the most frequent finding. No participant had a prior diagnosis of RHD. Screening was integrated into routine health examinations without any obvious disruption of routine workflows. The scoping review identified 86 publications, predominantly from Turkey and Italy, highlighting fragmented research, methodological heterogeneity, limited prevalence data, and a focus on surgical management rather than early detection. No multicenter screening studies in asymptomatic at-risk populations were identified, limiting a more accurate assessment of disease burden. Conclusions: This study suggests that systematic echocardiographic screening for RHD in high-risk migrant populations in Europe may facilitate the identification of individuals with echocardiographic abnormalities requiring confirmatory evaluation. Combined with the fragmented European literature, these findings underscore the need for harmonized surveillance, larger multicenter studies, and careful evaluation of targeted screening approaches into migrant health programs to inform future epidemiologic and implementation research. Lay Summary:
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.