Analysis of mortality and risk factors associated with native valve endocarditis in drug users: The importance of vegetation size

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2005.02.009 Byline: Pilar Martin-Davila (a), Enrique Navas (a), Jesus Fortun (a), Jose Luis Moya (b), Javier Cobo (a), Vicente Pintado (a), Carmen Quereda (a), Manuel Jimenez-Mena (b), Santiago Moreno (a) Abstract: Native valve endocarditis in drug-user patients had a microbiology, a frequency of involvement of different cardiac valves, and a prognosis that differ from those in non-drug users. A retrospective study of native valve endocarditis cases in intravenous drug users diagnosed from 1985 to 1999 in our institution was performed to analyze the inhospital mortality of drug users with native valve endocarditis and to identify factors predictive of mortality. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Infectious Diseases, Hospital Ramon y Cajal, Madrid, Spain (b) Department of Cardiology, Hospital Ramon y Cajal, Madrid, Spain Article History: Received 23 June 2004; Accepted 7 February 2005