Table 1 Baseline clinical characteristics

Gender, male

243 (61.1)

139 (58.6)

104 (64.6)

0.232

Age, years

30 (24–39)^a

29 (23–38)^a

30 (24–40)^a

0.414

Underlying cardiac diseases

255 (64.1)

191 (82.3)

64 (43.0)

< 0.001

 - Rheumatic heart disease

138 (34.7)

94 (40.5)

44 (29.5)

0.029

 - Congenital heart disease

32 (8.0)

24 (10.3)

8 (5.4)

0.088

 - Degenerative valve disease

10 (2.5)

7 (3.0)

3 (2.0)

0.550

 - Floppy valves

12 (3.0)

8 (3.4)

4 (2.7)

0.463

 - Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

3 (0.8)

3 (1.3)

0 (0)

0.225

 - Prosthetic valves IE

117 (29.4)

70 (29.5)

47 (29.2)

0.941

  • AV mechanical prosthesis

58 (14.6)

32 (13.5)

26 (16.1)

  • AV bioprosthesis

5 (1.3)

3 (1.3)

2 (1.2)

  • MV mechanical prosthesis

60 (15.1)

39 (16.5)

21 (13.0)

  • MV bioprosthesis

1 (0.3)

0 (0)

1 (0.6)

  • TV bioprosthesis

2 (0.5)

0 (0)

2 (1.2)

 - Pacemaker/ICD^b lead IE

5 (1.3)

2 (0.8)

3 (1.9)

0.324

 - Intravenous drug abuse

42 (10.6)

17 (7.2)

25 (15.5)

0.008

Healthcare associated IE

185 (46.5)

131 (55.3)

54 (33.5)

< 0.001

 * Hospital admission within the last 3 months

151 (37.9)

104 (43.9)

47 (29.2)

0.01

 * Procedures within the last 3 months

95 (23.9)

71 (30.6)

24 (16.1)

0.001

  - Intravenous line

37 (9.3)

20 (8.4)

17 (10.6)

0.475

  - Early prosthetic valve IE^c

27 (23.1)

20 (28.6)

7 (14.9)

0.69

  - Hemodialysis

15 (3.8)

10 (4.2)

5 (3.1)

0.387

  - Urinary catheter

2 (0.5)

1 (0.4)

1 (0.6)

0.646

  - Non cardiac surgery

16 (4.0)

9 (3.6)

7 (4.3)

0.784

  - Dental procedure

9 (2.3)

5 (2.1)

4 (2.5)

0.529

  - Abortion/dilation and curettage

4 (1.0)

2 (0.8)

2 (1.2)

0.231

Fever

335 (84.2)

205 (86.5)

130 (80.7)

0.123

 - Duration of fever, days

28 (13–60)^a

21 (10–56)^a

30 (14-60)^a

0.010

Previous use of antibiotics

231 (58.0)

171 (72.2)

60 (37.3)

< 0.001

Prior endocarditis

15 (3.8)

8 (3.4)

7 (4.3)

0.617