Who does endocarditis affect?

Who does endocarditis affect?

Endocarditis happens to twice as many people assigned male at birth than people assigned female at birth. Also, people older than 60 make up more than 25% of cases.

People most at risk of developing bacterial endocarditis include those who have:

• Acquired valve disease (for example, rheumatic heart disease) including mitral valve prolapse with valve regurgitation (leaking) and/or thickened valve leaflets.
• An artificial (prosthetic) heart valve, including bioprosthetic and homograft valves.
• Previous bacterial endocarditis.
• Certain congenital (present at birth) heart issues.
• A device, such as a pacemaker.
• A suppressed immune system.
• An intravenous drug abuse habit.
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).