Impact of clinical presentation on ischaemic and bleeding outcomes in patients receiving 6- or 24-month duration of dual-antiplatelet therapy after stent implantation: A pre-specified analysis from the PRODIGY (Prolonging Dual-Antiplatelet Treatment After Grading Stent-Induced Intimal Hyperplasia) trial

Aims We investigated if acute coronary syndrome (ACS) rather than stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) presentation is an outcome modifier with respect to the duration of dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in patients undergoing coronary stenting. Methods and results In the Prolonging Dual-Antiplatelet Treatment After Grading Stent-Induced Intimal Hyperplasia (PRODIGY) trial, a total of 1465 (74.3%) patients presented ACS whereas 505 (25.7%) had SCAD and were randomized to 6- or 24-month DAPT. At 24 months, the composite of death, myocardial infarction (MI), or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) did not differ between the long- and short-term DAPT arms in both ACS (11.1 vs. 11.7%; P = 0.67) and SCAD (7.5 vs. 4.8%; P = 0.21) patients, respectively. Long-term DAPT was associated with a 75% increase of Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC)-class 2, 3, or 5 bleeding in ACS [7.1 vs. 4.1%; hazard ratio (HR) 1.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11-2.74, P = 0.015; number needed to treat for harm (NNTH): 33.3] and a five-fold increase in SCAD (8.2 vs. 1.6%; HR 5.37, 95% CI 1.84-15.74, P = 0.002; NNTH: 15.1) patients, with a borderline quantitative interaction (P INT = 0.056). As a result, net adverse cardiovascular events (death, MI, CVA, BARC class 2, 3, or 5 bleeding) were more than doubled in SCAD patients receiving 24-month DAPT, whereas they did not differ in ACS patients (P INT = 0.024). Conclusions This analysis suggests that clinical presentation may be a treatment modifier with respect to DAPT duration after stenting consistent with the hypothesis that SCAD - but not ACS - patients are exposed to a significant increase in bleeding and net adverse clinical events when treated with 24-month compared with 6-month therapy.