Mortality predictors in CV implantable device infection ID'd

(HealthDay)—Infective endocarditis related to a cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED), corticosteroid therapy, and other comorbidities are tied to reduced short- and long-term survival, according to a study published in The American Journal of Cardiology.

Ammar Habib, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues retrospectively reviewed 415 patients with CIED infection who were admitted to Mayo Clinic from January 1991 to December 2008. Medical records and the United States Social Security Index were used to ascertain survival data.

The researchers found that at a mean follow-up of 6.9 years, 243 patients were still alive. Heart failure (odds ratio [OR], 9.31), corticosteroid therapy (OR, 4.04), and presentation with CIED-related infective endocarditis (OR, 5.60) were associated with increased short-term mortality in a multivariate model. Long-term mortality was associated with patient age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.20), heart failure (HR, 2.01), metastatic malignancy (HR, 5.99), corticosteroid therapy (HR, 1.97), renal failure (HR, 1.94), and CIED-related infective endocarditis (HR, 1.68) in a multivariate model.

"In conclusion, these data suggest that the development of CIED-related infective endocarditis and the presence of comorbid conditions are associated with increased short- and long-term mortality in patients with CIED infection," the authors write.
Several authors report financial ties to the medical device industry.

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