Sociodemographic, clinical and paraclinical characterization of infective endocarditis in a quaternary care hospital

Abstract

Introduction: infective endocarditis (IE) is a disease with high morbidity and mortality, with clinical implications for hospital stay, treatment and prognosis. Identifying the associated variables is essential to guide treatment.

Objective: to determine the sociodemographic, clinical and paraclinical characteristics associated with endocarditis. Methods: this was a retrospective case series that included patients diagnosed with IE from January 2021 to July 2024 at a quaternary care hospital in Bogotá. Clinical and paraclinical variables were collected and analyzed descriptively.

Results: the study included 68 patients with an average age of 59.6 ± 15.9 years who were predominantly male (70.6%). Hypertension was the most frequent comorbidity (54.4%). The main risk factors were the use of a vascular access for hemodialysis (20.6%) and a history of valve replacement (22.1%). The predominant clinical manifestation was fever (61.8%). Staphylococcus aureus was the most common causal germ (28%). The most frequent complications were embolic events (26.5%). Half of the patients required surgery, and the mortality rate was 16.2%.

Conclusions: infective endocarditis primarily affects men, with hypertension as the most frequent comorbidity and the use of vascular devices as a relevant risk factor. Fever was the cardinal clinical manifestation. Half required cardiovascular procedures for complex lesions, and embolic events were the predominant complication. The findings are consistent with prior national reports