A bacterial infection of the heart or blood vessels affects 40,000-50,000 individuals annually in the US, with a 30 per cent mortality rate after 1 year.

Due to the entry of microorganisms into the bloodstream, people who inject drugs (PWID) are more likely to be younger and to develop infectious endocarditis (IE). In fact, the present opioid epidemic is probably to blame for the rise in IE instances among younger patients and PWID.

According to a recent investigation that was published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, among young US citizens between the ages of 15 and 44, the chance of dying from infectious endocarditis has increased by a factor of two over the past two decades.

Additionally, PWID among young persons who pass away from IE has increased to about 20 per cent. Investigators looked examined data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based on death certificates and discovered the following rates per 100,000 people (with age-adjusted rates):

1. IE death rates for the overall US population fell from 2.1 in 1999 to 1.8 in 2020, but young US citizens' mortality rates more than doubled during that period, rising from 0.3 in 1999 to 0.6 in 2020.
2. Mortality rates rose from 0.1 to 0.3 among adults aged 15 to 34.
3. In 2020, 10.0 per cent of all IE deaths were caused by young persons, up from 6.8 per cent in 1999.
4. The percentage of PWID among all patients who died from IE grew from 1.1 per cent in 1999 to 3.0per cent in 2020; the percentage among young people also increased, from 10.2 per cent in 1999 to 19.5 per cent in 2020.

"The number of young people in the US who die of infective endocarditis is increasing, and the ongoing opioid epidemic, specifically injectable drug abuse, appears to be a significant cause," said corresponding author Polydoros Kampaktsis, MD, PhD, of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.