Rudasill SE, et al. - Since rising rates of hospitalization for infective endocarditis (IE) have been increasingly tied to rising injection drug use (IDU), researchers studied recent trends in IDU-IE hospitalization and focused on outcomes and readmissions for IDU-IE patients. Between January 2010 and September 2015, they performed an assessment of the National Readmissions Database (NRD) for IE cases. IDU status and surgical vs medical management were taken into account to stratify the patients. They assessed 30-day readmission and cause (primary outcome) as well as mortality, length of stay (LOS), adjusted costs, and 180-day readmission (secondary outcomes). They also used multivariable regressions to determine mortality, readmissions, LOS, and adjusted costs. On the national level, a continuous rise in the incidence of IDU-IE was reported. IDU-IE was recognized as a serious challenge to current management of IE as higher LOS, reduced costs, and increased readmission for endocarditis, septicemia, and drug abuse was seen among medically managed IDU-IE patients vs medically managed non–IDU-IE.