Gender differences in clinical features and complications of infective endocarditis: 11-year experience of a single institute in Egypt

BACKGROUND: No data exists about the gender differences among patients with infective endocarditis (IE) in Egypt. The objective was to study possible gender differences in clinical profiles and outcomes of patients in the IE registry of a tertiary care center over 11 years. RESULTS: The IE registry included 398 patients with a median age of 30 years (interquartile range, 15 years); 61.1% were males. Males were significantly older than females. Malignancy and recent culprit procedures were more common in females while chronic liver disease and intravenous drug abuse (IVDU) were more in males. IE on top of structurally normal hearts was significantly more in males (25.6% vs 13.6%, p = 0.005) while rheumatic valvular disease was more common in females (46.3% vs 29.9%, p = 0.001). There was no difference in the duration of illness before presentation to our institution. The overall complication rate was high but significantly higher in females. However, there were no significant differences in the major complications: mortality, fulminant sepsis, renal failure requiring dialysis, heart failure class III–IV, or major cerebrovascular emboli. CONCLUSION: In this registry, IE occurred predominantly in males. Females were significantly younger at presentation. History of recent culprit procedures was more common in females while IVDU was more common in males who had a higher incidence of IE on structurally normal hearts. The overall complication rate was higher in women. IE management and its outcomes were similar in both genders.