Heart Failure and Heart Valve Disease | Heart Valve Disease - Endocarditis

Epidemiology

Key messages

• Endocarditis remains rare (incidence 5 to 10 out of 100,000 per annum).
• Reported incidence is increasing (Fig 1) due to the following factors:
  • ageing population
  • increased intracardiac devices
  • intravenous drug use
• Healthcare-associated endocarditis is increasing.
• Mortality is unchanged:
  • more than 1 in 4 will die of endocarditis at one year

At the end of this session you will know how to:

• describe the epidemiology and prognosis of endocarditis
• discuss which patients are at risk of endocarditis
• list symptoms and signs of endocarditis 
• list investigations for endocarditis 
• describe key management steps in endocarditis 
• describe advice about endocarditis prevention 
• name which patients benefit from antibiotic prophylaxis