Figure 1 Enrollment and allocation flow diagramNinety-seven of 264 patients were categorized as I-330 corresponding to infective endocarditis (IE) according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems-10 (ICD-10), who were without a fever of ≥37°C (n=55), with a nosocomial onset (n=23) or being referred for valve surgery (n=19), were excluded. Of the remaining 167 patients, 112 were diagnosed with definite IE according to the modified Duke criteria (m-DC) and were allocated to the IE group. One of those 112 patients was diagnosed with definite IE despite the result of “non-definite” according to the m-DC, because 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography showed accumulation to the prosthetic valve. Similarly, 140 of 348 patients categorized as R-50–9 corresponding to undiagnosed fever (UF) with ICD-10, who were without a fever of ≥37°C (n=40), in whom the cause of fever was identified before admission (n=82), or who did not undergo blood tests, urinalysis, or chest X-ray before admission (n=18), were excluded. Of the remaining 208 patients, 7 were allocated to the IE group with definite IE according to the m-DC, resulting in 201 patients allocated to the UF group. Finally, a total of 320 patients were included (119 patients in the IE group and 201 patients in the UF group). This figure was created using Microsoft® PowerPoint® for Microsoft 365 MSO (version 2301 build 16.0.16026.20002).