Recent trends, clinical characteristics, and outcome of infective endocarditis among intravenous drug users of a tertiary hospital in the east region of Malaysia

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) is an infection affecting the endocardial lining and contributed to socioeconomic burden due to prolonged admission, invasive procedure, and expensive treatment. The high prevalence of intravenous drug user intravenous drug user (IVDU) shifts the paradigm of the disease, and thus, we aim to determine the clinical characteristics, outcome, and inhospital mortality of IE among IVDU patients. Materials and Methodology: This is a retrospective cohort by analyzing case records for IVDU patients admitted to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan diagnosed with IE from January 2014 until June 2017. Results: A total of 32 patients were included, with a median age of 35 years old (standard deviation: 6.5). Only 56.3% presented with fever, whereas most of them complained of nonspecific symptoms such as reduced exercise tolerance (59.4%) and weight loss (56.3%). Seventy-five percent had concomitant hepatitis C, but only 6.3% of them were HIV positive. Valvular heart disease accounted for 46.9%, while chronic rheumatic heart diseases and previous IE infection accounted for 28.1% and 18.8%, respectively. For microbiological characteristics, Staphylococcus aureus accounted for 62.5%, followed by streptococci (15.4%) and others (2%). The most common valve affected in IVDU was tricuspid valve (62.5%), followed by mitral valve (21.9%) and pulmonary valve (9.4%). Furthermore, mortality was reported at 25%, while severe valvular complications (62.5%) were observed with elevated episodes of emboli (62.5%) and cardiogenic shock (40.6%). Conclusion: Hence, IVDU is an essential predictive factor and is associated with various severe complications and thus warranted for aggressive preventive measurement to reduce the morbidity.