[Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy: methods for identifying groups at risk and/or risk behaviors]

Chagas' disease is still in 1992 a true problem of Public Health in several countries of South America. Almost 1/3 of the infested patients will develop a heart complications particularly lethal: the Chagas' chronic cardiopathy. The existing drugs do not cope with this Public Health problem. Such a lack of therapy enlarged because of the success of vectors control, has based the main strategies for the years to come, i.e. eradication of the insects of Triatoma. infestans group. So, there is a great risk to look upon the patients already infested and threatened with acute heart complication. Many factors have an influence on the occurrence of such a complication. Therefore, identification of groups or behaviours at risk should lead to an adapted strategy to take care of the patients already infested by Trypanosoma Cruzi. The authors propose a methodology which taking into consideration all "may be risk factors", eases a graded conceptual model. This model will be certainly useful in identifying some pertinent parameters, in elaborating or accepting some data collection technology, in data analysis, as well as in setting up some operational research projects.