Short- and long-term outcomes in octogenarians undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting

Aims: To investigate the incidence of cardiac events in octogenarians who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stenting, as well as to evaluate the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting stents (DES) in this population. Methods and results: The study included 6,129 consecutive patients who underwent PCI with stenting from 2000 to 2005 in our centre, of whom 291 (4.7%) were octogenarians. After adjusting for confounders, age ≥80 years appeared a significant predictor of high mortality at 30 days (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]1.92, 95% CI1.23-3.01), and four years (aHR 2.25, 95% CI1.77-2.85). No differences were seen with respect to incident myocardial infarction (MI), but target lesion (63.2 vs. 32.6 per1,000 person-years at one year and 27.9 vs.16.6 per1,000 person-years at four years) and vessel (83.1 vs. 52.9 per1,000 person-years at one year and 37.7 vs. 25.0 per1,000 person-years at four years) revascularisation rates were lower in octogenarians. When comparing DES with bare metal stents (BMS) in octogenarians, mortality and MI rates were comparable, but there was a significantly lower incidence of target lesion revascularisation at one- (9.5 vs. 0.6 per1,000 person-years, aHR 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.57) and four-year (3.4 vs. 0.7 per1,000 person-years, aHR 0.16, 95% CI 0.04-0.59) follow-up in patients who received a DES. Conclusions: Octogenarians undergoing PCI with stenting have an increased mortality risk, whereas the rates of repeat revascularisation in octogenarians are lower. This study suggests that the benefit of DES in reducing revascularisation rates is extended to elderly patients.