Healthcare-associated versus community-associated infective endocarditis in children

Infective endocarditis (IE) in children is continuously changing in regard to underlying conditions, predisposing factors, etiologic agents, clinical manifestations, treatment, and outcome. We describe current characteristics and compare healthcare-associated and community-associated disease.

All children (<18 years) who were treated at our center between January 1992 through June 2004 and met the Duke criteria for definite or possible IE were included. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected. Cases were categorized as healthcare- or community-associated.

A total of 50 children with IE were identified (51 events; 0.32/1000 hospitalizations). Twenty children (41%) had an isolated congenital heart disease, 13 (25%) had an underlying chronic disease, 9 (18%) were previously healthy, and 8 (16%) were preterm. Mortality rate was 12% (6/51). Compared with the community-associated cases (21/51, 41%), the healthcare-associated cases (30/51, 59%) showed female preponderance, younger age, 1.7-fold longer hospitalization, 1.6-fold longer time to pathogen eradication, and 3.4-fold higher mortality. The leading causes of healthcare-associated IE were Candida sp (8/30, 27%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (6/30, 20%), and Gram-negative bacilli (5/30, 16%). By contrast, the leading causes of community-associated IE were viridans streptococci (8/21, 38%) and Staphylococcus aureus (4/21, 19%).

A high proportion of pediatric IE is healthcare-associated that occurs in younger and sicker children. Healthcare-associated IE differs from community-associated IE in the patients' age, causative pathogens, and mortality. These trends and the different etiologies may affect future antibiotic management of this important pediatric infection.