A 681% increase in infective endocarditis (IE) hospital admissions was observed over 5 years, primarily attributable to injection drug use, according to a study published in PLOS One. Ruchi Bhandari, PhD, and colleagues conducted a retrospective, observational study using manual review of EMRs, which included all patients aged 18-90 who had their first admission for IE at university-affiliated referral hospitals during 2014-2018. Utilizing chi-square/ Fisher’s exact test or Wilcoxon rank sum test, demographics, clinical characteristics, and healthcare utilization were compared between patients with drug use IE (DU-IE) and non-DU-IE. A total of 780 patients had a confirmed first IE admission, with a six-fold increase during the study period. Most (70.9%) had used drugs prior to hospital admission, most often by injection. Patients with DU-IE were notably younger, had a higher proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates, and were hospitalized longer. Patients with DU-IE also had more psychiatric disorders, cardiac surgeries, and discharges against medical advice.
