{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T19:20:44Z","timestamp":1788808844311,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779753600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Infective endocarditis (IE) remains a major clinical challenge. It carries high morbidity and mortality, despite advances in diagnostic and therapeutic methods. This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological profile, microbiological characteristics, complications, and predictors of adverse outcomes among patients with IE treated at a tertiary cardiovascular center in Romania over 5 years. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study including 156 patients diagnosed with IE between January 2020 and December 2024. We analyzed demographic data, comorbidities, microbiological findings, treatment strategies, complications, and in-hospital outcomes. Results: The cohort was predominantly male (76.3%), with a mean age of 58.5 years. Native valve endocarditis was the most frequent form (80.1%). Streptococci were the most commonly identified pathogens, followed by enterococci and staphylococci. Complications occurred in 74.4% of patients. Heart failure (70.5%), acute kidney injury (37.2%), and embolic events (32.7%) were most frequent. Healthcare-associated infective endocarditis (HAIE) was seen in 10.3% of patients. Additional healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) occurred in 26.9% of patients and were associated with longer hospital stays (21.7 vs. 13.5 days; p &lt; 0.001). Use of a central venous catheter independently predicted HAI development (adjusted OR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.08\u201314.06; p = 0.038). The in-hospital mortality rate was 16.7%. Acute kidney injury and sepsis were the strongest factors associated with in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: IE remains associated with a high burden of complications and in-hospital mortality. HAIs complicate the clinical course and are closely linked to invasive device use. Mortality is mainly driven by systemic disease severity, especially acute kidney injury and sepsis. These findings highlight the importance of infection prevention, prompt risk stratification, and coordinated multidisciplinary care to improve outcomes in patients with IE.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina62061028","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T08:16:08Z","timestamp":1779783368000},"page":"1028","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Changing Epidemiology, Healthcare-Associated Infections, and Outcomes in Infective Endocarditis: A Five-Year Retrospective Study from a Tertiary Cardiovascular Center"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"62","author":[{"given":"Adelina","family":"Matei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cGeorge I.M. Georgescu\u201d Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, 700503 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Grigore","family":"Tinic\u0103","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cGeorge I.M. Georgescu\u201d Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, 700503 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alberto","family":"Bacu\u0219c\u0103","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cGeorge I.M. Georgescu\u201d Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, 700503 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mihail","family":"Enache","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cGeorge I.M. Georgescu\u201d Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, 700503 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrei","family":"\u021a\u0103ru\u0219","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cGeorge I.M. Georgescu\u201d Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, 700503 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mihaela C\u0103t\u0103lina","family":"Luca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cSaint Parascheva\u201d Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases, 700116 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gabriela","family":"Jug\u0103nariu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u201cSaint Parascheva\u201d Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases, 700116 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Doina","family":"Azoic\u0103i","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, \u201cGrigore T. Popa\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115 Iasi, Romania"},{"name":"\u201cGeorge I.M. Georgescu\u201d Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, 700503 Iasi, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.7861\/clinmed.cme.20.1.1","article-title":"Infective endocarditis: A contemporary update","volume":"20","author":"Rajani","year":"2020","journal-title":"Clin. Med."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sousa, C., Nogueira, P., and Pinto, F.J. (2021). Insight into the epidemiology of infective endocarditis in Portugal: A contemporary nationwide study from 2010 to 2018. BMC Cardiovasc. 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