Outcomes of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery Versus Drug-Eluting Stents in Older Adults

Objectives: Little data are available to compare coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) vs percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) in older adults. We evaluate the long-term outcomes of CABG vs PCI with DES in older adults with left main or multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD). Design: Individual patient-level meta-analysis. Settings: Databases from the BEST, PRECOMBAT, and SYNTAX trials were combined. Participants: A total 1,079 adults aged 70 to 89 years were pooled. Measurements: The primary outcome was a composite of death from any causes, myocardial infarction, stroke, or repeat revascularization. Results: During a total of 6.3 (median, 4.9) years of follow-up, the primary composite outcome of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, or repeat revascularization occurred in 26% (141/550) and 34% (179/529) of patients in the CABG and PCI groups, respectively (hazard ratio (HR), 0.75; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.60–0.94; P =.012). CABG was associated with fewer myocardial infarction (4% vs 8% for PCI; HR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.29–0.80; P =.037); and repeat revascularizations (8% vs 17% for PCI; HR, 044; 95% CI, 0.31–0.64; P <.001), but had little association with all-cause mortality or stroke. Conclusion: Older adults age 70 to 89 years with left main or multivessel CAD who participated in the BEST, PRECOMBAT, and SYNTAX trials; compared to PCI, CABG was associated with lower risk of primary outcome which was mostly driven by lower risk of myocardial infarction.