Structured prognostic estimation criteria are a key issue in patient treatment and can be an additional help to guide appropriate patient counseling, as well as support therapeutic decisions for doctors responsible for patients. Prognostic assessment can also be expressed as risk scores; many of them were developed for case series of epidemiological population studies^– or a specific group of patients such as patients in intensive care^– with suspected or active cardiovascular disease^,, or a specific disease such as infective endocarditis.

In the present publication, the authors evaluated in-hospital and post-discharge prognosis estimates using the “Sharpen” score in comparison to the Charlson comorbidity index in 168 patients (179 admissions) with infective endocarditis over sixteen years (2000-2016) based on the review of hospital records. Sharpen is an acronym for seven clinical conditions (Systolic Blood Pressure, Heart Failure, Age, Renal Function, Pneumonia, Elevated C-reactive protein Rate, and Non-Use of Intravenous Drugs – SHARPEN) subjected to multivariate analysis (logistic regression) converting β coefficients into weights.

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