Erroneous diagnoses in children referred with acute rheumatic fever.

We reviewed 53 patients referred to a pediatric rheumatology clinic in Asuncion, Paraguay. In 6 patients, a diagnosis of rheumatic fever was confirmed and in 47 patients other clinically significant diagnoses were made. Eighteen children had nonspecific findings and did not develop a rheumatologic condition on follow-up. Overdiagnosis of rheumatic fever can falsely inflate incidence and prevalence statistics and clinically significant diagnoses may be overlooked.