Community-acquired culture-negative endocarditis: clinical characteristics and risk factors for mortality

SummaryObjectivesWe studied the clinical characteristics, in-hospital mortality, and long-term prognosis of patients with culture-negative endocarditis.MethodsIn total, 221 episodes of definite endocarditis were studied (2004–2009). We compared the clinical, laboratory, and echocardiography characteristics and the survival rates of patients with culture-negative and culture-positive endocarditis. Survival after hospital discharge was evaluated using the Kaplan–Meier method and coefficient of mortality comparisons.ResultsCulture-negative endocarditis occurred in 51/221 (23.1%) episodes. Compared with the culture-positive endocarditis patients, the time elapsed between admission and initiation of antibiotic therapy was longer in patients with culture-negative endocarditis (p<0.001), and these patients also had lower C-reactive protein levels at admission (p