Comparison of Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Native Valve Endocarditis between 1979~1984 and 1991~1996

Park, Sung Ha; Yoo, Tae Hyeon; Yum, Jun Sup; Choi, Young Hwa; Lee, Choong Ryul; Chang, Gyung Hee; Song, Young Gu; Cho, Seung Yun; Kim, June Myung

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The changes in the epidemiology of native valve endocarditis have been known in western countries recent years due to the decrease in the inci-dence of rheumatic heart disease, increased longevity of patients with valvular or congenital heart diseases, and the increase in degenerative heart disease due to the in-crease in the average life span of the general popula-tion. In this study, we analyzed and compared the epide-miological and clinical characteristics of patients with na-tive valvular endocarditis fro two different time periods.
METHODS
We compared native valve endocarditis patients diagnosed from 1979 - 1984(group I) with those diagnosed from 1991 - 1996(group II). We used modified Duke' s criteria for the diagnosis and statistical analysis was done using SPSS window program.
RESULTS
In our study, mean age of the population was higher in group II and significantly larger number of patients were over the age of 50 in group II. Involve-ment of multiple valves with vegetations and peri-valvular abscess were found more frequently in group II. Also, significantly higher percentage of patients from group II underwent surgical treatment.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that the epidemiolocaland clinical characteristics of infective endocarsitis in Korea may change to resemble those in western countries. Further studies regarding this subject are needed.