Excerpt

These seven papers present the procedures and results of a long-term investigation of antimicrobial prophylaxis, streptococcal infections, and cardiac sequelae in a population of more than 400 children and adolescents with preceding episodes of unequivocal rheumatic fever. The investigation was performed with distinct improvements over past methodology in the following procedures:

METHODOLOGY 1. The prophylaxis regimens under investigation were randomly assigned after allocation of the patients into three groups comparable in age, presence or absence of heart disease, and time elapsed since the most recent rheumatic attack. The allocation and randomization of patients required use of a special statistical design,