Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of Patients with Infective Endocarditis: A single-center experience

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical presentations, outcomes, and changes over 8 years period of infective endocarditis (IE) patients in a tertiary hospital in Turkey and to identify predictors of mortality. Materials and Methods: All adult patients who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of definite IE were included in the study. The data were analyzed both collectively and separately in two consecutive four-year periods i.e. 2010-2013 and 2014-2017. Results: There were 72 IE cases in the study. Male/female ratio was 1.57:1 (44 males,28 females). The mean age of the patients was 48.5±17.6 years. Staphylococci were the most common agents (44%). Independent predictors of mortality were heart failure, the invasive procedure before IE, and lower platelet level. Increased invasive procedures before IE and enterococcal endocarditis were found significantly to be higher during the last period (2014-2017). Conclusions: IE is still a serious and deadly disease in the 21st century. Our data indicate that invasive procedures have been increasing before IE and this increase with associated poor prognosis.