Infective endocarditis: Clinical presentation, etiology, and early predictors of in-hospital case fatality.

OBJECTIVE We aimed to assess the clinical presentation, microbial etiology and outcome of patients presenting with infective endocarditis (IE). PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a four-year retrospective study including all patients presenting with IE. RESULTS We included 121 patients in the study. The median age was 74.8years. Most patients had native valve IE (57%). Staphylococcus aureus accounted for 24.8% of all IE. Surgery was indicated for 70 patients (57.9%) but actually performed in only 55 (44.7%). Factors associated with surgery were younger age (P=0.002) and prosthetic valve IE (P=0.001). Risk factors associated with in-hospital mortality were diabetes mellitus (OR=3.17), chronic renal insufficiency (OR=6.62), and surgical indication (OR=3.49). Mortality of patients who underwent surgery was one sixth of that of patients with surgical indication who did not have the surgery (P<0.001).