People who inject drugs are dying at an alarming rate from endocarditis, a serious but treatable heart-valve infection. But their odds of survival improve dramatically, even five years after their first admission to hospital, if they're treated not just for heart infection but are also provided with addiction support while in hospital, a Canadian study shows. The study also highlights that women who inject drugs are particularly vulnerable to endocarditis and are affected in disproportionately high numbers.
"Endocarditis is potentially lethal and always costly," says Dr. Michael Silverman, an infectious diseases researcher at St. Joseph's Health Care London and a scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ont.
"It takes a huge toll on the health-care system and, more importantly, it claims too many lives that could otherwise be saved." Silverman has co-authored a landmark new paper , with University of Saskatchewan researchers Dr. Stuart Skinner, Dr.
Cara Spence and Janica Adams, in JAMA Network Open . "Our study, the first of its kind, shows that we can dramatically improve the short- and long-term survival among persons who inject drugs by treating more than just the infection. We need to provide in-hospital counseling and addiction care," Silverman says.
Without that support, he says, these patients experience opiate-withdrawal symptoms which often results in patient-initiated discharge from hospital before their treatment for endocarditis is complete. Endoca.
