Valvular Heart Disease in a Young Israeli Ethiopian Immigrant Population From the Gondar Region With Implications for Rheumatic Heart Disease

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) among Ethiopian school children was recently found to be 1.4%. Immigration of the Jewish population from the Gondar region to Israel created an opportunity for further enquiry. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of the cardiac status of 113,671 adolescent recruits aged 16–19 years from the northern district of Israel who completed the medical profiling process over a 22-year period. RESULTS: 140 recruits had a history of rheumatic fever (0.12%), although none from an Ethiopian origin (n = 1,719). The prevalence of valvular heart disease clinically and confirmed echocardiographically in Ethiopian recruits was not different from the total population (0.81 and 0.93%, respectively). However, the prevalence was higher in those migrating to Israel in their 13th year or older (2.09%), compared to those migrating at a younger age or born in Israel (0.49%). CONCLUSION: The Ethiopian teenage Israeli population from Gondar had a high rate of auscultation positive and echocardiographically confirmed valvular disease that suggested a high rate of RHD (~1.6%), despite no relevant past history. Our findings also suggested that for the younger Ethiopian immigrants or Israeli born subjects of Ethiopian origin, the improved medical care may well reduce the prevalence of valvular heart disease to that of the rest of the local population.