Abstract

Introduction: The net clinical benefit of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) reflects the paradoxical effects of an increased risk of bleeding and a reduced risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). A time-constrained approach to DAPT has been recently investigated in five multicenter trials including GLOBAL LEADERS, STOP-DAPT2, SMART-CHOICE, TWIGHLIGHT and TICO. Methods: We undertook a pooled analysis of these trials to assess the overall associations between time-constrained P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy (“aspirin free regimen”) for bleeding events, MACE and all-cause mortality as compared to standard care with DAPT for at least 12 months post-PCI. We implemented a DerSimonian and Laird random effects meta-analysis using the metafor package in R. Results: 32,361 randomized trial participants, including 16,898 (52.2%) with a history of ACS, underwent PCI and had outcome data available. P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy from 1 - 3 months was associated with a reduced risk for bleeding (hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) 0.60 (0.45, 0.81); p=0.024), including in the ACS group in which the magnitude of risk reduction was greatest (HR (95% CI) 0.50 (0.41, 0.61). The estimates of the effect of P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy on the hazard were also favorable for MACE (0.88 (0.77, 1.02)) and all-cause mortality (95% CI 0.85 (0.71, 1.03)). Conclusions: Compared with DAPT for 12 months post-PCI, P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy from 1-3 months substantially reduces the risk of major and fatal bleeding and, in addition, potentially protective effects, for MACE and all-cause mortality. Considering patient safety, the results support a strategy of DAPT for 1-3 months followed by ‘aspirin free’ P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy.

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