Importance: Patients with concomitant peripheral arterial disease (PAD) experience worse cardiovascular outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of prolonged (24 months) vs short (≤6 months) dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in patients with PAD undergoing PCI.
Design, setting, and participants: This subanalysis of the randomized Prolonging Dual Antiplatelet Treatment After Grading Stent-Induced Intimal Hyperplasia Study (PRODIGY) trial assessed unselected patients from tertiary care hospitals with stable coronary artery disease or acute coronary syndromes with or without concomitant PAD from December 2006 to December 2008. Data analysis was performed from January 7 to April 4, 2016.
Interventions: Percutaneous coronary intervention.
Main outcomes and measures: Rates of the primary efficacy end point, composite of death, myocardial infarction, or cerebrovascular accidents, and occurrence of the key safety end point, a composite of Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 2, 3, or 5.
Results: This analysis comprised 246 and 1724 patients with and without PAD, respectively. In the patients with PAD, mean (SD) age was 73.2 (9.2) in the prolonged group and 75.7 (8.7) years in the short DAPT group, and 97 (82.2%) were male in the prolonged group and 92 (71.9%) were male in the short DAPT group. In the patients without PAD, mean (SD) age was 67.1 (11.2) years in the prolonged group and 66.8 (11.3) years in the short DAPT group, and 667 (76.8%) were male in the prolonged group and 655 (76.6%) were male in the short DAPT group. Status of PAD was associated with a higher risk of death and ischemic events (hazard ratio [HR], 2.80; 95% CI, 2.05-3.83; P < .001). Prolonged vs short DAPT conveyed a lower risk of the primary efficacy end point in patients with PAD (19 [16.1%] vs 35 [27.3%]; HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.31-0.95; P = .03) but not in patients without PAD (81 [9.3%] vs 63 [7.4%]; HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 0.92-1.77; P = .15), with positive interaction (P = .01). The risk of definite or probable stent thrombosis was significantly lower in patients with PAD treated with prolonged compared with short DAPT (HR, 0.07; 95% CI, 0-1.21; P = .01). Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 2, 3, or 5 bleeding occurred in 6 patients with PAD (5.2%) receiving prolonged DAPT relative to 8 (6.9%) of those receiving short DAPT (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.27-2.21; P = .62), with a significant interaction (P = .04) compared with patients without PAD.
Conclusions and relevance: Peripheral artery disease confers a poor prognosis in patients undergoing PCI in the setting of stable coronary artery disease or acute coronary syndromes. Prolonged DAPT lowers the risk of ischemic events with no apparent bleeding liability in this high-risk group.
Trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00611286.