rheumatic heart disease
- noun
- /ruˈmætɪk hɑrt dɪˈziz/
- Specialized
:
enfermedad cardíaca reumática
- Chronic rheumatic heart disease results from repeated episodes of rheumatic fever, causing damage to the heart valves.
- patients with rheumatic heart disease
Examples
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In many regions, untreated rheumatic heart disease is a leading cause of serious cardiac complications.
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Chronic rheumatic heart disease is the most important consequence of rheumatic fever.
Academic text (2007) -
Rheumatic heart disease continues to be an important cardiac problem afflicting the young population of Egypt.
Academic text (2007) -
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) occurs in 30 to 45% of patients with rheumatic fever (RF).
Academic text (2007) -
Rheumatic heart disease is the most common cause of valvular disease in developing countries, where predisposing factors to RF persist and prophylactic therapy is often inadequate.
Academic text (2007) -
Rheumatic heart disease is a significant health issue that can lead to complications in young adults.
Synonyms
A disease when some heart valves do not work properly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'rheumatic' modifies 'heart disease' to indicate a disease of the heart caused by rheumatism or rheumatic fever, so the overall meaning follows directly from the constituent words. While 'rheumatic' is a relatively technical/low-frequency adjective that a B1 learner might not know, the morphological structure is transparent and cognates exist in many languages, so a learner who knows all the constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Rheumatic heart disease comes from the fact that repeated rheumatic fevers can scar the heart and its valves over time. That's why it means 'a long-term heart problem caused by repeated rheumatic fever'.
