[Factors associated with the time to clinical diagnosis of infectious endocarditis. Analysis of a multicentre case-record].
The authors demonstrate that time necessary for diagnosis in 902 patients with validated infectious endocarditis was significantly shorter in 249 drug addicts confronted with 653 non-addicted patients. With regard to the latter category we noticed a significant tendency in diagnostic time reduction in the last five years of observation and this is probably due to the improved knowledge on infectivologists regarding the clinical presentation of infectious endocarditis rather than the application of validating protocols