The Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of infective endocarditis patients without prior stroke (orange lines), patients with uncomplicated stroke (blue lines) and patients with complicated ischaemic stroke (green lines). The age-adjusted long-term mortality risk was increased among patients with complicated ischaemic lesions only [hazard ratio (HR) 2.1, 1.24–3.54; P = 0.005] but not in patients with uncomplicated ischaemic strokes (HR 1.18, 0.79–1.77; P = 0.41).