Infective Endocarditis Is Associated With Worse Outcomes In Stroke: A Thailand National Database Study

Background There is lack of data on the association between infective endocarditis (IE) and outcomes of mortality and complications in stroke. We aimed to compare characteristics and outcomes of stroke patients with and without IE. Methods We retrospectively examined the above association using data obtained from an insurance database which covers similar to 75% of the Thai population. All hospitalised strokes between 8 January 2003 and 31 December 2013 were included in the current study. Characteristics and outcomes were compared between stroke patients with or without IE, and then between two main stroke types. Multiple logistic regression models including propensity score-matched analyses were constructed to assess study outcomes controlling for age, sex, stroke type and comorbidities. Results A total of 590 115 stroke patients (mean (SD) age = 64.2 +/- 13.7 years; ischaemic = 51.7%; haemorrhagic = 32.6%; undetermined = 15.7%) were included, of whom 2129 (0.36%) had stroke associated with IE. After adjustment, we found that IE was significantly associated with the following complications: arrhythmias (adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) 6.94 (6.29-7.66)), sepsis (1.24 (1.01-1.52)), pneumonia (1.34 (1.17-1.53)), respiratory failure (1.43 (1.24-1.66)) and in-hospital mortality (1.29 (1.13-1.47)) (Pfor all <.001). Patients with haemorrhagic stroke with IE had poorer outcomes for in-hospital mortality and respiratory failure compared with their counterparts with ischaemic stroke. Propensity score-matched analysis showed similar results. Conclusions Our results suggest that stroke patients with IE differ from that of the general stroke population and these patients have worse outcomes. Future studies are needed to determine the best treatment strategies for stroke patients with IE.