St vitus dance as a child- after effects in old age?

The short version: childhood Sydenham chorea can leave lasting changes in the brain that show up decades later as movement problems and psychiatric conditions.

The evidence from these records points to real long-term effects. A 2012 study of 25 adults who had Sydenham chorea as children found that 64% still had bradykinesia (slowed movement), a parkinsonian sign suggesting immune damage to the brain's motor control system [2]. An older 1988 study reported that people with a history of chorea had a 3.4 times higher risk of psychiatric illness and an 8.9 times higher risk of schizophrenia compared to matched controls [1]. A 2025 case report describes a 34-year-old woman who developed obsessive-compulsive symptoms after her chorea began, with no prior psychiatric history [3].

These are not small effects. The movement findings came from a group whose average age was only about 20, meaning the problems appeared within two decades of the childhood illness [2]. The psychiatric risks were large enough to be statistically significant in a study from 1988 [1].

What this retrieval does not cover is the full picture in old age. The studies followed people into young adulthood, not into their 60s or 70s. The question of whether these effects worsen, stabilize, or interact with normal aging is not answered by these records. The mechanism is plausible: Sydenham chorea is an autoimmune attack on the basal ganglia, and damage there can produce lifelong vulnerability to movement disorders and psychiatric conditions.

My call: childhood Sydenham chorea carries a real risk of lasting neurologic and psychiatric effects that persist into adulthood. Confidence: moderate.