Key result
Infective endocarditis incidence is increasing among the elderly, reaching 145 cases/million between ages 70 and 80 in a French survey, highlighting a growing disease burden in this population.
There is a growing burden of infective endocarditis in the elderly, driven by increased life expectancy, with peak incidence occurring between 70 and 80 years of age.
See doi:10.1016/S1095-668X(03)00309-9for the article to which this editorial refers Infective endocarditis is a rare disease which still carries a severe prognosis partly because of changes in epidemiology due to the growing number of patients with a high risk profile. In this respect there is an growing proportion of elderly patients with infective endocarditis related to the increase in life expectancy in industrialised countries. As an illustration the patients over 70 represent 26% of the cases with infective endocarditis in the Euro Heart Survey on Valvular Heart Disease which was performed in 2001 (Personal communication. Tornos P. Annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology, Berlin, August 2002). In addition, in a recent French survey the overall age- and sex- standardized annual incidence of infective endocarditis was 31 cases/million population and it significantly increased in patients over 50, and peaked at 145 cases/million between the ages 70 and 80.1Despite the importance of the problem we have little data available on infective endocarditis in the elderly, with sometimes conflicting results.2–4
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Alec S. Vahanian (2003) conducted an editorial in Infective endocarditis. Older age was evaluated. Infective endocarditis incidence is increasing among the elderly, reaching 145 cases/million between ages 70 and 80 in a French survey, highlighting a growing disease burden in this population.
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