Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc . Incidence of infective endocarditis during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: A nationwide study

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Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc


. 2020 Nov 6;31:100675.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2020.100675. eCollection 2020 Dec.
Incidence of infective endocarditis during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: A nationwide study


Eva Havers-Borgersen ¹ , Emil L Fosb?l ¹ , Jawad H Butt ¹ , Jeppe K Petersen ¹ , Andreas Dalsgaard ¹ , Frederik Kyhl ¹ , Morten Schou ² , Matthew Phelps ³ , Kristian Kragholm ⁴ , Gunnar H Gislason ^{3 5} , Christian Torp-Pedersen ⁶ , Lars K?ber ¹ , Lauge ?stergaard ¹



Affiliations

• PMID: 33235900
• PMCID: PMC7670237
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2020.100675

Abstract

Background: The incidence of infective endocarditis (IE) has increased in recent decades. Societal lockdown including reorganization of the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic may influence the incidence of IE. This study sets out to investigate the incidence of IE during the Danish national lockdown.
Methods: In this nationwide cohort study, patients admitted with IE in either one of two periods A) A combined period of 1 January to 7 May for 2018 and 2019, or B) 1 January to 6 May 2020, were identified using Danish nationwide registries. Weekly incidence rates of IE admissions for the 2018/2019-period and 2020-period were computed and incidence rate ratios (IRR) for 2020-incidence vs 2018/2019-incidence were calculated using Poisson regression analysis.
Results: In total, 208 (67.3% men, median age 74.1 years) and 429 (64.1% men, median age 72.7 years) patients were admitted with IE in 2020 and 2018/2019, respectively. No significant difference in incidence rates were found comparing the 2020-period and 2018/2019-period (IRR: 0.96 (95% CI: 0.82-1.14). The overall incidence rate pre-lockdown (week 1-10: 1 January to 11 March 2020) was 14.2 IE cases per 100,000 person years (95% CI: 12.0-16.9) as compared with 11.4 IE cases per 100,000 person years (95% CI: 9.1-14.1) during lockdown (week 11-18: 12 March to 6 May 2020) corresponding to an IRR of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.60-1.06) and thus no significant difference pre- versus post-lockdown.
Conclusion: In this nationwide cohort study, no significant difference in the incidence of IE admissions during the national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic was found.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Infective endocarditis; Pandemic.