Global trends in infective endocarditis epidemiology.

The global epidemiology of infective endocarditis is becoming better understood with the initiation of multi-center collaborative studies and with an increasing number of case series being reported from countries outside North America and Europe. However, there are still many knowledge gaps and a lack of population-based data. For endocarditis in developed countries, the role of rheumatic heart disease as a predisposing factor is diminishing; the population is increasingly elderly, staphylococci are becoming much more important pathogens, and proportionally more are healthcare-associated. In developing countries, the epidemiology of infective endocarditis remains similar to North America and Europe from the middle of the twentieth century, affecting a younger age group, is often associated with rheumatic heart disease, and is predominantly caused by streptococci.