Changing profile of infective endocarditis during 31-year time course in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Aim: Infective endocarditis (IE), infection of the endocardial surface of heart, may cause mortality up to 30% despite advancements in medical care. Epidemiology of IE and profile of causative organism has changed in the last years. We aimed to investigate the changing profile of IE over a 31-year period in a tertiary care hospital Material and Method: Medical records of 290 patients treated with the diagnosis of IE between 1974 and 2005 were re-evaluated according to Modified Duke criteria. Forty seven cases were classified as rejected cases. Results: Of the 243 patients 109 was female (44.8%) and 134 male (55.2%). The mean age of the patients was 38±16.4 years (Table). The mean age of the patients showed an increasing trend throughout the time (p