PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Almost half of persons who inject drugs (PWID) with endocarditis will die within five years; women are disproportionately affected

A study of five-year survival rates shows treatment for vulnerable people should include in-hospital addiction support and community care, with special attention to the needs of marginalized young women

2024-10-04
(Press-News.org) LONDON, Ont. and REGINA, Sask. – 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 counselling 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.

Endocarditis is a severe infection of the lining of the heart muscle. Its treatment includes intravenous antibiotics and often in-hospital care for about a month. In about 20 per cent of cases, discharged patients had subsequent endocarditis infections and multiple hospital stays.

Researchers examined hospital and post-hospital records of 764 people with endocarditis from 2007 to 2023 in London, Ont., at St. Joseph’s and at London Health Sciences Centre, and in Regina – two centres where city-wide hospital records made identifying long term survival possible. Funded by St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation, this study is the first to look at survival over five years after admission to hospital.

Fifty-six per cent of patients were persons who injected drugs (PWIDs). Their five-year mortality rate was 49 per cent. Most deaths from endocarditis itself were within the first year, with deaths after that more commonly related to the complications of addiction.

“Our study shows the effectiveness of prioritizing more comprehensive addiction treatment upon hospital admission and linking to care afterwards. While these are part of the standard of care in both Regina and London, they are not available in many North American hospitals,” says Spence.

Skinner, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at USask, adds, “At these mortality rates, endocarditis amongst PWIDs should be regarded as a health emergency, with a need to use all available life-saving resources.”

Silverman notes that women made up slightly more than 50 per cent of PWIDs with endocarditis, despite making up only one-third of PWIDs overall in both Canada and the USA. The reasons for this disproportionate number of women who inject drugs with endocarditis are unclear but may be related to their having others perform the injecting and because they are often disempowered, being among the last to inject, with previously used equipment, he says.

Women in urban centers had higher long-term mortality than those in rural areas, likely related to the urban complications of homelessness, the sex trade and violence. Skinner notes young rural women often have better survival rates because many are connected to communities of support. “It speaks to the importance of community in the context of treating addiction,” he says.

Five per cent of the women were pregnant on admission to hospital, and there was high fetal and maternal mortality. Researchers highlighted the importance of offering these women access to contraceptive options. Contraception is rarely offered when patients are admitted with serious unrelated conditions, but then an opportunity to provide care to these marginalized women is often missed.

Says Skinner, “All people should have access to fundamental things like health care and housing, and there’s a standard empathy we need to have for everyone. These are moms and dads and kids. The average age of this group is 31 for women patients and 38 for men. That's a large population of vulnerable people who are very ill or dying at far too young an age.”

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Experimental blood test improves early detection of pancreatic cancer

Experimental blood test improves early detection of pancreatic cancer
2024-10-04
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Sept. 30, 2024) — An experimental blood test detects early-stage pancreatic cancer more effectively than other available tests, reports a new study published in Cancer Letters. The findings pave the way for further evaluation of the test in a clinical setting, an important step toward approval as a potential diagnostic method for pancreatic cancer. “Catching pancreatic cancer early dramatically improves survival, but our current tools for doing so are limited,” said the study’s co-corresponding author Brian Haab, Ph.D., a professor at Van Andel Institute. “Our results reveal that our combination ...

Groundbreaking wastewater treatment research led by Oxford Brookes targets global challenge of toxic ‘forever chemicals’

2024-10-04
Researchers at Oxford Brookes University have pioneered a groundbreaking method to tackle one of the world’s most persistent environmental threats—toxic chemicals in global water supplies.    They have developed a new machine called a hydrodynamic reactor that uses bubbles which form and collapse due to changes in pressure, a process called cavitation. The reactor removes toxic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals” from water.    PFAS chemicals were invented in the 1930s and used in convenience products ...

Jefferson Health awarded $2.4 million in PCORI funding

2024-10-04
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 3, 2024 — Jefferson Health has been awarded $2.4 million by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to implement evidence-based patient education and coaching programs for weight loss across Jefferson Primary Care.  U.S. adult obesity rates have risen to over 40% in the past two decades, increasing risks of diabetes, heart disease and premature death. Led by Baligh Yehia, M.D., MPP, MSHP, President of Jefferson Health, this project will implement sustainable health education programs ...

Cilta-cel found highly effective in first real-world study

2024-10-04
(WASHINGTON – October 4, 2024) In the first study to report real-world outcomes from ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy for multiple myeloma, patients experienced efficacy and safety results similar to those seen in clinical trials, according to results published today in Blood. Of 236 patients who received cilta-cel infusions at 16 U.S. medical centers in 2022, 89% saw their cancer respond to the treatment and 70% had a complete response, meaning there was no detectable cancer after the treatment. These numbers ...

Unleashing the power of generative AI on smart collaborative innovation network platform to empower research and technology innovation

Unleashing the power of generative AI on smart collaborative innovation network platform to empower research and technology innovation
2024-10-04
A dedicated team of researchers from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is pioneering cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies on a collaborative innovation network platform, aimed at transforming science, technology and innovation (STI) services to empower research and innovation. This innovative project is set to revolutionise the related service delivery by creating a secure GenAI model and digitally transforming processes, thereby facilitating research development and technology innovation, while enhancing data security and service efficiency. STI services, including ...

Revolutionizing cardiovascular risk assessment with AI

2024-10-04
A recent position paper in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in ophthalmology. Led by Lama Al-Aswad, Professor of Ophthalmology and Irene Heinz Given and John La Porte Given Research Professor of Ophthalmology II, of the Scheie Eye Institute, the work represents a collaboration among researchers from Penn Engineering, Penn Medicine, the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, St. John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem, and Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine in Korea. With fundus photography enabling the visualization ...

Antarctic ‘greening’ at dramatic rate

Antarctic ‘greening’ at dramatic rate
2024-10-04
Vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than tenfold over the last four decades, new research shows. The Antarctic Peninsula, like many polar regions, is warming faster than the global average, with extreme heat events in Antarctica becoming more common. The new study – by the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire, and the British Antarctic Survey – used satellite data to assess how much the Antarctic Peninsula has been “greening” in response to climate change. It found that the area of vegetation ...

Winds of change: James Webb Space Telescope reveals elusive details in young star systems

Winds of change: James Webb Space Telescope reveals elusive details in young star systems
2024-10-04
Every second, more than 3,000 stars are born in the visible universe. Many are surrounded by what astronomers call a protoplanetary disk – a swirling "pancake" of hot gas and dust from which planets form. The exact processes that give rise to stars and planetary systems, however, are still poorly understood. A team of astronomers led by University of Arizona researchers has used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to obtain some of the most detailed insights into the forces that shape protoplanetary disks. The observations offer glimpses into what our solar system may have looked like 4.6 billion years ago. Specifically, the team was able to trace so-called ...

UC Merced co-leads initiative to combat promotion and tenure bias against Black and Hispanic faculty

2024-10-04
Black and Hispanic faculty members seeking promotion at research universities face career-damaging biases, with their scholarly production judged more harshly than that of their peers, according to a groundbreaking initiative co-led by the University of California, Merced that aims to uncover the roots of these biases and develop strategies for change. Junior professors are generally evaluated and voted on for promotion and tenure by committees comprising senior colleagues. In one of the studies conducted by the research team, results suggest that faculty from underrepresented minorities received 7% more negative votes from ...

Addressing climate change and inequality: A win-win policy solution

2024-10-04
Climate change and economic inequality are deeply interconnected, with the potential to exacerbate each other if left unchecked. A new study published in Nature Climate Change sheds light on this critical relationship using data from eight large-scale Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to examine the distributional impacts of climate policies and climate risks. The study provides robust evidence that climate policies aligned with the Paris Agreement can mitigate long-term inequality while addressing climate change. Led by Johannes Emmerling, Senior Scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

World record for lithium-ion conductors

Researchers map 7,000-year-old genetic mutation that protects against HIV

KIST leads next-generation energy storage technology with development of supercapacitor that overcomes limitations

Urine, not water for efficient production of green hydrogen

Chip-scale polydimethylsiloxane acousto-optic phase modulator boosts higher-resolution plasmonic comb spectroscopy

Blood test for many cancers could potentially thwart progression to late stage in up to half of cases

Women non-smokers still around 50% more likely than men to develop COPD

AI tool uses face photos to estimate biological age and predict cancer outcomes

North Korea’s illegal wildlife trade threatens endangered species

Health care workers, firefighters have increased PFAS levels, study finds

Turning light into usable energy

Important step towards improving diagnosis and treatment of brain metastases

Maternal cardiometabolic health during pregnancy associated with higher blood pressure in children, NIH study finds

Mercury levels in the atmosphere have decreased throughout the 21st century

This soft robot “thinks” with its legs

Biologists identify targets for new pancreatic cancer treatments

Simple tweaks to a gene underlie the stench of rotten-smelling flowers

Simple, effective interventions reduce emissions from Bangladesh’s informal brick kilns

Ultrasound-guided 3D bioprinting enables deep-tissue implant fabrication in vivo

Soft limbs of flexible tubes and air enable dynamic, autonomous robotic locomotion

Researchers develop practical solution to reduce emissions and improve air quality from brick manufacturing in Bangladesh

Durham University scientists solve 500-million-year fossil mystery

Red alert for our closest relatives

3D printing in vivo using sound

Global Virus Network meeting unites Caribbean and Latin America to tackle emerging viral threats

MD Anderson Research Highlights for May 8, 2025

Study of Türkiye gold mine landslide highlights need for future monitoring

Researchers find new defense against hard-to-treat plant diseases

Characterization of research grant terminations at the National Institutes of Health

New study: high efficiency of severe thalassemia prevention with HTS based carrier screening

[Press-News.org] Almost half of persons who inject drugs (PWID) with endocarditis will die within five years; women are disproportionately affected
A study of five-year survival rates shows treatment for vulnerable people should include in-hospital addiction support and community care, with special attention to the needs of marginalized young women