ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In recent years, diagnostic methods and treatment of infective endocarditis (IE) have been improved. It is not known whether the clinical outcome is any better. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of changes on the clinical outcomes of IE patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors performed a retrospective study comparing IE patients hospitalized at Srinagarind hospital during the period from 1/1/1990 to 31/12/2002. The authors classified the patients according to the period of diagnosed from 1990 to 1993 (n=57), 1994 to1997 (n=71), and 1998 to 2002 (n=72) cohorts. RESULTS: There were two hundred IE patients in the present study. Mean age and degenerative heart disease were increasing. Operative and in-hospital mortality were decreasing. Overall survival rate was 81% at the first year 60% at 5 years, 55% at 12 years in surgically treated patients, with 30-day mortality in 27.1% mostly from the 1990 to 1993 cohort. In medically treated IE, overall the survival rate was 37% in the first year, 32% at 5 years, 20% at 12 years, with 30-day mortality in 72.86% mostly in the 1990 to 1993 cohort. Early surgical intervention, improved long-term survival rates (hazard ratio 0.23; 95% CI 0.14-0.37), severe congestive heart failure (hazard ratio 1.87; 95% CI 1.17-2.99) and renal failure (hazard ratio 4.10; 95% CI 2.05-7.84) are the predictors of mortality by multivariate analysis. Survival rate from 1998 to 2002 cohort was 85%, 1994 to 1997 cohort was 54% and 1993 to 1990 cohort was 27% at 1-year (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The data indicated that the changing clinical outcome of this disease, reflected improvements in diagnostic method and treatment. Although IE remains a serious condition characterized by significant morbidity and mortality, the overall survival rate has significantly improved over time. The authors therefore, believe that early diagnosis and prompt treatment both medical or surgical interventions will improve the outcome of IE patients.