To outline the clinical features and identify risks associated with in-hospital mortality in patients with infective endocarditis. Adult patients who were diagnosed with definite infective endocarditis (IE) from January 2012 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 87 patients, including 57 (65.5%) men and 30 (34.5%) women, were included, with a mean age of 54.1±16.6 years (ranging from 18 to 85 years). Fifty (57.5%) patients had mitral valves involvement. Among the 87 patients, 32 (36.8%) had IE by Staphylococcus aureus, while 14 (16.1%) patients had IE by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Liver cirrhosis (Odd Ratio [OR] 18.38, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 2.46-137.20, p=0.007) and diabetes mellitus (OR 4.52, 95% CI 1.01-20.30, p=0.049) were both associated with IE by MRSA. Twenty of the 87 patients died during the hospitalization, with the in-hospital mortality rate being 23.0%. The age older than 65 years was associated with an increased in-hospital mortality rate (OR 5.81, 95% CI 1.62-20.87, p=0.007). Infective endocarditis remains a lethal disease, particularly in the elderly. Clinicians should not underestimate the prevalence of MRSA infection in patients with infective endocarditis.