To evaluate prasugrel safety in real-world patients with STEMI.
Consecutive patients with STEMI were recruited over 1 year. Follow-up was done at 3 months and 1 year to evaluate prasugrel safety from hospital discharge to the STEMI anniversary date. The primary outcome was occurrence of any major bleeding according to the Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) 3 or 5 definitions, or minor bleeding according to the BARC 2 definition.
Overall, 1083 patients were recruited. Compared to patients treated with aspirin + clopidogrel, patients treated with aspirin + prasugrel had fewer BARC 3 or 5 bleedings (two [0.4%] patients vs. nine [1.8%] patients; P = 0.04), but more BARC 2 bleedings (45 [9.3%] patients vs. 20 [4.0%] patients; P < 0.001). The baseline characteristics of prasugrel- and clopidogrel-treated patients differed because the former were carefully selected (younger, higher body mass index, less frequent history of stroke). In the overall population, rates of in-hospital and out-of-hospital major bleeding were 2.6% (n = 28) and 1.3% (n = 13), respectively.
The rate of major bleeding, particularly out-of-hospital bleeding, in patients treated with prasugrel is low within 1 year after a STEMI. Accurate selection of patient candidates for prasugrel is likely to have reduced the risk of bleeding.