Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with infective endocarditis, a three-year study

Abstract

Background: infective endocarditis has a poor prognosis and a high mortality rate. Incidence and mortality have not decreased in the last 30 years.Objective: to characterize clinical and epidemiological variables of patients with infective endocarditis who were admitted to the “Dr. Ernesto Guevara de la Serna” General Teaching Hospital of Las Tunas, from January 2017 through December 2019.Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at the aforementioned hospital and during the period herein declared. The universe included 49 patients admitted with suspected infective endocarditis and the sample was made up of 33 patients with the definite diagnosis, according to modified Duke criteria. The data were taken from the medical records and were analyzed by using descriptive statistics.Results: the 40 to 49 age group and the male sex were the most affected ones (27,2 % and 60,6 %, respectively); fever presented as a clinical manifestation in 69,7 % of the patients; the commonest predisposing factor was health care associated with the implantation of valvular prostheses and/or intracardiac devices (24,2 %); the most frequently isolated germ in the studied cases was Staphylococcus aureus (18,2 %), while in 57,6 % of the patients blood cultures were negative; 21,2 % of the studied cases developed systemic embolism.Conclusions: the patients with infective endocarditis included in the study were characterized, with a predominance of the male sex and fever as the main sign.

Keywords

• endocarditis, bacterial
• delivery of health care
• heart valve diseases
• heart valve prosthesis implantation