Abstract

Objective: To assess the prognostic value of the baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) level in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) after pre-treatment with 600 mg of clopidogrel and whether there is an interaction between CRP level and abciximab in terms of outcome.

Design: Pooled analysis from the ISAR-SWEET, SMART-2, ISAR-REACT and REACT-2 trials

Setting, methods: The study included 4847 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing PCI after pre-treatment with 600 mg of clopidogrel. The primary outcome was one-year mortality. The combined incidence of death, myocardial infarction and target lesion revascularisation was the secondary outcome.

Results: Based on the median value of CRP (2.3 mg/l), patients were divided into two groups: the high-CRP group (n = 2448) and the low-CRP group (n = 2399). During one year, there were 141 deaths (5.8%) in the high-CRP group compared with 51 deaths (2.1%) in the low-CRP group (OR = 2.77, 95% CI 2.04 to 3.77; p<0.001). The incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) was 28% in the high-CRP group compared with 25% in the low-CRP group (OR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.26; p = 0.034). The Cox proportional hazards model showed that high CRP was an independent predictor of one-year mortality (hazard ratio 2.20, 95% CI 1.54 to 3.15; p<0.001 for CRP level >2.3 mg/l vs CRP level ⩽2.3 mg/l). No significant interaction was observed between CRP level and abciximab regarding one-year mortality (p = 0.08) or MACE (p = 0.68).

Conclusion: In patients with CAD undergoing PCI after pretreatment with 600 mg of clopidogrel, baseline CRP level predicts one-year mortality and MACE. Abciximab therapy did not confer any particular beneficial effect in patients with a higher inflammatory burden.