Abstract
Introduction
CRUSADE score is commonly used for bleeding risk stratification in the context of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, the study validating it was performed before ticagrelor was available.
Purpose
To compare the predictive performance of CRUSADE score in two groups of non-ST elevation ACS (NSTEACS) patients, one treated with ticagrelor and another with clopidogrel.
Methods
Retrospective study of 2077 NSTEACS patients admitted between January 2014 and September 2017 and included in a multicentre national registry. Group 1 was composed by patients medicated with ticagrelor, and Group 2 with clopidogrel. Patients with bleeding history were excluded. The primary endpoint (PE) results from a composite which includes: in-hospital major bleeding (MB) according to the Registry criteria, need for red blood cell transfusion (RBCT), or haemoglobin drop ≥2g/dL (HbD). The groups were compared according to their demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics. The occurrence of the PE (and its components) across CRUSADE risk categories was assessed by Chi-square for linear trend. The performance of CRUSADE score for PE prediction in each cohort was assessed by Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) curves.
Results
Group 1 included 662 (31.9%) and Group 2 1415 (68.1%) patients. Mean CRUSADE score was higher in Group 2 (23.1±14.7 versus (vs) 26.7±16.3, p=0.001). No difference was observed regarding the PE (14.8% vs 17.0%, p=0.200) and its components. With the exception of MB in Group 1 (p-trend=0.425), the relative occurrence of the PE and its components increased across CRUSADE risk categories [Figure 1. panel A]. In-hospital mortality was numerically superior in Group 2, but did not reach statistical significance (1.1% vs 1.6%, p=0.368). In both groups, the performance of CRUSADE score in predicting the PE was modest (Group 1 AUC=0.59 and p=0.006, Group 2 AUC=0.62 and p<0.001), and no difference was observed when comparing the two groups (P value for ROC curves comparison = 0.899) [Figure 1. panel B and C respectively].
Figure 1
Conclusion
In this study based on a national registry of NSTEACS patients, the use of ticagrelor did not influence the occurrence of bleeding related events and it did not change the predictive performance of the CRUSADE score. According to this analysis, CRUSADE score may be applied without limitation to NSTEACS patients managed with ticagrelor.
PARAGUAYAN NATIONAL REGISTRY OF ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME