Total Major Adverse Events in Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease

Researchers, led by Michael Szarek, investigated associations between chronic symptomatic peripheral artery disease and polyvascular disease and total risk for major adverse cardiovascular and limb events. Their report, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, stated that patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease have nearly double the amount of total events compared to first events, “with rates reflecting the number of affected vascular territories.”

This study was a post-hoc analysis on data from the EUCLID (Examining Use of Ticagrelor in Peripheral Artery Disease) trial, wherein 13,885 patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease were randomized to either ticagrelor or copidogrel treatment. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated to represent the effect of treatment on total adverse events.

Chronic Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease Total Events Data

According to the authors, there were a total of 7,600 cardiovascular and limb events over a median follow-up period of 2.7 years—or, 60.0 events per 100 patients over 3 years for the ticagrelor group and 62.5 for the clopidogrel group (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.89-1.03; P=0.27).

In the 1,393 patients with disease in 3 vascular territories, 3-year rates for the ticagrelor and clopiderol groups were 87.3 and 97.7 per 100 patients, respectively. At year 3, researchers estimated absolute risk reductions of ticagrelor relative to clopiderol of -0.2 , 6.7 , and 10.3 events per 100 patients with 1, 2, or 3 affected vascular territories, respectively (P=0.09).

Ultimately, Szarek and colleagues wrote that their results highlighted the importance of quantifying the burden of peripheral artery disease based on total events, as well as the need for long-term preventive treatment options for high-risk patients.

Read More Related Research at the Atherosclerotic Disease Knowledge Hub.