Safety and Efficacy of New-Generation Drug-Eluting Stents in Women at High Risk for Atherothrombosis

Background— The safety and efficacy of new-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) in women with multiple atherothrombotic risk (ATR) factors is unclear. Methods and Results— We pooled patient-level data for women enrolled in 26 randomized trials. Study population was categorized based on the presence or absence of high ATR, which was defined as having history of diabetes mellitus, prior percutaneous or surgical coronary revascularization, or prior myocardial infarction. The primary end point was major adverse cardiovascular events defined as a composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, or target lesion revascularization at 3 years of follow-up. Out of 10 449 women included in the pooled database, 5333 (51%) were at high ATR. Compared with women not at high ATR, those at high ATR had significantly higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (15.8% versus 10.6%; adjusted hazard ratio: 1.53; 95% confidence interval: 1.34–1.75; P =0.006) and all-cause mortality. In high-ATR risk women, the use of new-generation DES was associated with significantly lower risk of 3-year major adverse cardiovascular events (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.69; 95% confidence interval: 0.52–0.92) compared with early-generation DES. The benefit of new-generation DES on major adverse cardiovascular events was uniform between high-ATR and non–high-ATR women, without evidence of interaction ( P interaction =0.14). At landmark analysis, in high-ATR women, stent thrombosis rates were comparable between DES generations in the first year, whereas between 1 and 3 years, stent thrombosis risk was lower with new-generation devices. Conclusions— Use of new-generation DES even in women at high ATR is associated with a benefit consistent over 3 years of follow-up and a substantial improvement in very-late thrombotic safety.