Publications

BACKGROUND

High-intensity statins (HIS) are recommended for secondary prevention following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We aimed to describe temporal trends and determinants of HIS prescriptions after PCI in a usual-care setting.

METHODS

All patients with age ≤75 years undergoing PCI between January 2011 and May 2016 at an urban, tertiary care center and discharged with available statin dosage data were included. HIS were defined as atorvastatin 40 or 80 mg, rosuvastatin 20 or 40 mg, and simvastatin 80 mg.

RESULTS

A total of 10,495 consecutive patients were included. Prevalence of HIS prescriptions nearly doubled from 36.6% in 2011 to 60.9% in 2016 (P < .001), with a stepwise increase each year after 2013. Predictors of HIS prescriptions included ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction/non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (odds ratio [OR] 4.60, 95% CI 3.98-5.32, P < .001) and unstable angina (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.19-1.45, P < .001) as index event, prior myocardial infarction (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.34-1.65, P < .001), and co-prescription of β-blocker (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.12-1.43, P < .001). Conversely, statin treatment at baseline (OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77-0.96, P = .006), Asian races (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.65-0.83, P < .001), and older age (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.88-0.92, P < .001) were associated with reduced HIS prescriptions. There was no significant association between HIS prescriptions and 1-year rates of death, myocardial infarction, or target-vessel revascularization (adjusted hazard ratio 0.98, 95% CI 0.84-1.15, P = .84), although there was a trend toward reduced mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 0.71, 95% CI 0.50-1.00, P = .05).

CONCLUSION

Although the rate of HIS prescriptions after PCI has increased in recent years, important heterogeneity remains and should be addressed to improve practices in patients undergoing PCI.