ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION Clinical Presentation, Etiology, and Outcome of Infective Endocarditis in the 21st Century The International Collaboration on Endocarditis–Prospective Cohort Study

for the International Collaboration on Endocarditis–Prospective Cohort Study (ICE-PCS) Investigators Background: We sought to provide a contemporary pic-ture of the presentation, etiology, and outcome of infec-tive endocarditis (IE) in a large patient cohort from mul-tiple locations worldwide. Methods: Prospective cohort study of 2781 adults with definite IE who were admitted to 58 hospitals in 25 coun-tries from June 1, 2000, through September 1, 2005. Results: The median age of the cohort was 57.9 (inter-quartile range, 43.2-71.8) years, and 72.1 % had native valve IE. Most patients (77.0%) presented early in the disease (30 days) with few of the classic clinical hall-marks of IE. Recent health care exposure was found in one-quarter of patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common pathogen (31.2%). The mitral (41.1%) an