Hospital mortality due to infective endocarditis: Analysis of risk factors in a developing country

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a disease with high mortality that, in recent decades, has experienced changes in its epidemiology, pathogenesis, and microbiology. Therefore, understanding its landscape and risk factors for mortality is essential.

To identify the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, etiological, and echocardiographic profile of patients hospitalized with IE and to determine predictors for in-hospital mortality.

This was a retrospective observational study that analyzed medical records of patients hospitalized for IE in a tertiary center from 2007 to 2023. Patients with a definitive diagnosis of IE according to the Duke criteria were included, while those without a definitive diagnosis, those transferred from other facilities, and minors were excluded. Univariate logistic regression was performed to assess the effect of each variable on in-hospital mortality, with a p-value considered significant if below 0.05.

A total of 49 patients were included, most of whom were male (67.4%) with a mean age of 55.5 years. The main etiological agent was Staphylococcus spp. (56.66%), and the mitral valve was the most affected (60.86%). Stroke occurred in 28.57% of patients, and the in-hospital mortality rate was 36.7%. Identified predictors included prior stroke (p=0.017), stroke during hospitalization (p=0.015), and length of hospital stay (p=0.01).

IE leads to high mortality, with prior stroke, stroke during hospitalization, and length of hospital stay identified as predictors of in-hospital mortality.