Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov;23(11):533-8.
doi: 10.1007/s12471-015-0744-z.

General practitioner reported incidence of Lyme carditis in the Netherlands

A Hofhuis  1 , S M Arend  2 , C J Davids  2 , R Tukkie  3 , W van Pelt  4
Affiliations

General practitioner reported incidence of Lyme carditis in the Netherlands

A Hofhuis et al. Neth Heart J. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Between 1994 and 2009, incidence rates of general practitioner (GP) consultations for tick bites and erythema migrans, the most common early manifestation of Lyme borreliosis, have increased substantially in the Netherlands. The current article aims to estimate and validate the incidence of GP-reported Lyme carditis in the Netherlands.

Methods: We sent a questionnaire to all GPs in the Netherlands on clinical diagnoses of Lyme borreliosis in 2009 and 2010. To validate and adjust the obtained incidence rate, medical records of cases of Lyme carditis reported by GPs in this incidence survey were reviewed and categorised according to likelihood of the diagnosis of Lyme carditis.

Results: Lyme carditis occurred in 0.2 % of all patients with GP-reported Lyme borreliosis. The adjusted annual incidence was six GP-reported cases of Lyme carditis per 10 million inhabitants, i.e. approximately ten cases per year in 2009 and 2010.

Conclusions: We report the first incidence estimate for Lyme carditis in the Netherlands, validated by a systematic review of the medical records. Although Lyme carditis is an uncommon manifestation of Lyme borreliosis, physicians need to be aware of this diagnosis, in particular in countries where the incidence of Lyme borreliosis has increased during the past decades.

Keywords: Incidence; Lyme borreliosis; Lyme carditis; Medical diagnoses; Medical record review.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Stanek G, Fingerle V, Hunfeld KP. Lyme borreliosis: clinical case definitions for diagnosis and management in Europe. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011;17:69–79. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2010.03175.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lelovas P, Dontas I, Bassiakou E, Xanthos T. Cardiac implications of Lyme disease, diagnosis and therapeutic approach. Int J Cardiol. 2008;129:15–21. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2008.01.044. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Three sudden cardiac deaths associated with Lyme carditis—United States, November 2012-July 2013. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2013;62(49):993–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hofhuis A, Harms MG, van den Wijngaard CC, Sprong H, van Pelt W. Continuing increase of tick bites and Lyme disease between 1994 and 2009. Ticks Tick-Borne Dis. 2015;6(1):69–74. doi:j.ttbdis.2014.09.006. - PubMed
    1. Hubálek Z. Epidemiology of Lyme borreliosis. Curr Probl Dermatol. 2009;37:31–50. doi: 10.1159/000213069. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources