Improving medical care and prevention in adults with congenital heart disease—reflections on a global problem—part II: infective endocarditis, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary arterial hypertension and aortopathy

The exact percentage of IE in the general population is unknown. A scientific statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association quotes an annual incidence ranging from 3–7 per 100,000 person-years in the most contemporary population surveys (1-4). The wide range of incidence rates, reported from 1–15 cases per 100,000 per year, vary due to different inclusion data. They result from inclusion of different populations at risk, diverse diagnostic criteria and inclusion of cases with “possible” IE and referral bias (5-8). Epidemiological studies on IE from hospital case series suffer from selection bias, while well conducted prospective studies from population-based investigations are scarce (6). Amongst adults with CHD the incidence of IE remains according to contemporary reports between 0.91 and 1.32 cases/1,000 patient-years (9,10)