Cuatro años de estudio longitudinal de una comunidad rural con endemicidad chagásica

The four-year follow-up study reported herein represents the continuation of a previous cross-sectional study carried out in a rural community (Belen, Venezuela). The earlier study included 1,210 persons out of a total of 1,656 inhabitants, all over five years of age, and demonstrated a high prevalence of Chagas' infection (47.3 per cent) and a high rate of Chagas' disease seropositivity among those with chronic myocardial heart disease (84.8 per cent); heart disease was found in 17.3 per cent of persons studied. It included clinical, electrocardiographic and radiological analyses The present report describes the results of the four-year follow-up study performed in 812 persons, which permitted to establish the incidence of Chagas' infection (16.3 per cent) and that of chagasic heart disease (2.2 per cent) in four years. The report also included the clinical, electrocardiographic and radiological analyses of cases with previous heart disease as well as new cases. Different evolutive electrocardiographic patterns have been found, including serial electrocardiographic variations ranging from normal to definitely abnormal. The mortality occurred in the sample during the observation period is reported(AU)