The comparison of short-term dual antiplatelet therapy versus standard dual antiplatelet therapy in elderly patients with coronary artery disease who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention

Abstract Introduction Elderly patients are likely to have more underlying risk factors for bleeding and the bleeding risk increases with age although dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) is mandatory for patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for prevention of ischemic events. Therefore, elderly patients aged 75 or older are included as minor criteria for high bleeding risk, as defined by the Academic Research Consortium for High Bleeding Risk criteria. However, only limited data have been investigated of optimal duration of DAPT for patients aged 75 or older. Purpose The aim of this study is to evaluate optimal DAPT duration for elderly patients aged 75 and older. Methods We selected 1,571 patients aged 75 and older with coronary artery disease (CAD) from the pooled database among the 5 randomized controlled trials related to DAPT duration after PCI. DAPT was consisted of clopidogrel or ticagrelor in addition to aspirin. Short-term DAPT duration was defined as 1 to 3months, and standard DAPT duration was defined as 6 to 12months after PCI. Primary outcomes were net clinical adverse outcomes (NACE), composite of major cardiovascular and cerebrovascular adverse outcomes (MACCE) and TIMI major bleeding at 1 year. The inversed probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) analysis was performed to minimize selection bias effects of pooled database. Results The NACE was not significantly different between the short-term DAPT group (3.9%) and standard DAPT group (7.6%) (HR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.46-1.04; p=0.076) (Figure A). Moreover, MACCE was not different in both groups. However, the significant reduction of bleeding risk was observed in short-term DAPT group (1.4%) than standard DAPT group (3.4%) (hazard ratio (HR): 0.40, 95% confidential interval (CI): 0.19-0.83; p=0.015) (Figure B). These results were consistent after multivariable Cox regression analysis and IPTW analysis. Conclusions Short-term DAPT duration (1 to 3months) was found to be superior to standard DAPT duration (6 to 12months) in terms of bleeding outcomes without the increased ischemic outcomes in patients aged 75 or older with CAD who underwent PCI.