Compliance with the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology and morbidity and mortality from infectious endocarditis

OBJECTIVEThe antibiotic treatment recommended for infectious endocarditis (IE) has a low level of evidence. Our objective was to determine whether compliance with the recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) was related to lower inhospital morbidity and mortality for this disease. METHODSA retrospective study was conducted on 162 cases of IE diagnosed between 2005 and 2014. A propensity score-matching analysis was performed to determine the effect of treatment on hospital mortality. RESULTSThere were no differences in terms of disease complications between the treatment groups. Hospital mortality was 29.2% when the treatment was adjusted to the guidelines and 28.2% when the treatment was not adjusted (OR=1.048; 95%CI: 0.442-2.484; P=.916). CONCLUSIONThe use of the ESC guidelines does not appear to translate into a reduction in hospital morbidity and mortality due to IE when compared with alternative antibiotic treatment regimens.