• Asher J Schranz, Aaron Fleischauer, Vivian H Chu, Li-Tzy Wu, and David L Rosen.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (A.J.S., D.L.R.).
• Ann. Intern. Med. 2019 Jan 1; 170 (1): 314031-40.

BackgroundDrug use-associated infective endocarditis (DUA-IE) is increasing as a result of the opioid epidemic. Infective endocarditis may require valve surgery, but surgical treatment of DUA-IE has invoked controversy, and the extent of its use is unknown.ObjectiveTo examine hospitalization trends for DUA-IE, the proportion of hospitalizations with surgery, patient characteristics, length of stay, and charges.Design10-year analysis of a statewide hospital discharge database.SettingNorth Carolina hospitals, 2007 to 2017.PatientsAll patients aged 18 years or older hospitalized for IE.MeasurementsAnnual trends in all IE admissions and in IE hospitalizations with valve surgery, stratified by patients' drug use status. Characteristics of DUA-IE surgical hospitalizations, including patient demographic characteristics, length of stay, disposition, and charges.ResultsOf 22 825 IE hospitalizations, 2602 (11%) were for DUA-IE. Valve surgery was performed in 1655 IE hospitalizations (7%), including 285 (17%) for DUA-IE. Annual DUA-IE hospitalizations increased from 0.92 to 10.95 and DUA-IE hospitalizations with surgery from 0.10 to 1.38 per 100 000 persons. In the final year, 42% of IE valve surgeries were performed in patients with DUA-IE. Compared with other surgical patients with IE, those with DUA-IE were younger (median age, 33 vs. 56 years), were more commonly female (47% vs. 33%) and white (89% vs. 63%), and were primarily insured by Medicaid (38%) or uninsured (35%). Hospital stays for DUA-IE were longer (median, 27 vs. 17 days), with higher median charges ($250 994 vs. $198 764). Charges for 282 DUA-IE hospitalizations exceeded $78 million.LimitationReliance on administrative data and billing codes.ConclusionDUA-IE hospitalizations and valve surgeries increased more than 12-fold, and nearly half of all IE valve surgeries were performed in patients with DUA-IE. The swell of patients with DUA-IE is reshaping the scope, type, and financing of health care resources needed to effectively treat IE.Primary Funding SourceNational Institutes of Health.

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