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OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical spectrum of infective endocarditis in critically ill patients and assess the impact of neurologic complications on outcomes. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter observational study conducted from April 2007 to October 2008. SETTING: Thirty-three intensive care units in 23 university-affiliated and 10 general French hospitals. PATIENTS: Two hundred twenty-five patients with definite IE were studied. Factors associated with neurologic complications and predictors of 3-month mortality were identified by logistic regression analysis. Functional outcomes of patients with neurologic complications were evaluated with the modified Rankin Scale. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among 198 patients with definite left-sided infective endocarditis, 108 (55%) experienced at least one neurologic complication. These complications were ischemic stroke (n = 79), cerebral hemorrhage (n = 53), meningitis or meningeal reaction (n = 41), brain abscess (n = 14), and mycotic aneurysm (n = 10). Factors independently associated with neurologic complications were (subhazard ratio 95% confidence interval): Staphylococcus aureus infective endocarditis (1.45 1.02-2.05), mitral valve infective endocarditis (1.54 1.07-2.21), and nonneurologic embolic events (1.51 1.09-2.09). In contrast, health care-associated infective endocarditis had a protective effect (0.46 0.27-0.77). Multivariate analysis identified three variables associated with 3-month mortality (odds ratio 95% confidence interval): neurologic failure, as defined as a Glasgow Coma Scale 2 (3.16 1.47-6.77). Among the 106 patients with neurologic complications assessed at follow-up (3.9 3-8.5 months), 31 (29%) had a modified Rankin Scale score ≤3 (ability to walk without assistance), nine (9%) a modified Rankin Scale score of 4 or 5 (severe disability), and 66 (62%) a modified Rankin Scale score of 6 (death). CONCLUSIONS: Neurologic events are the most frequent complications in infective endocarditis patients requiring intensive care unit admission. They contribute to a severe prognosis, leaving less than one-third of patients alive with functional independence. Neurologic failure at intensive care unit admission represents a major determinant of mortality regardless of the underlying neurologic complication.
Sonneville et al. (Fri,) studied this question.