Comparative Effectiveness of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy With Aspirin and Clopidogrel Versus Aspirin Monotherapy in Mild-to-Moderate Acute Ischemic Stroke According to the Risk of Recurrent Stroke



Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, <a href=”https://www.ahajournals.org/toc/circoutcomes/13/11″>Volume 13, Issue 11</a>, November 1, 2020.
Background:This study compared the effectiveness of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with clopidogrel-aspirin with that of aspirin monotherapy (AM) in mild-to-moderate acute ischemic stroke considering the risk of recurrent stroke using the Stroke Prognosis Instrument II (SPI-II) score.Methods:This study is a retrospective analysis of data from a prospective, nationwide, multicenter stroke registry database between January 2011 and July 2018. We included patients with mild-to-moderate (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score ≤10), acute (within 24 hours of onset), noncardioembolic ischemic stroke. The primary outcome was a 3-month composite of stroke (either hemorrhagic or ischemic), myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality. Propensity scores using the inverse probability of treatment weighting method were used to mitigate baseline imbalances between the DAPT and AM groups and within each subgroup considering SPI-II scores.Results:Among the 15 430 patients (age, 66±13 years; men, 62.0%), 45.1% (n=6960) received DAPT and 54.9% (n=8470) received AM. Primary outcome events were significantly more frequent in the AM group (16.7%) than in the DAPT group (15.5%;P=0.03). Weighted Cox proportional hazards models showed a reduced risk of 3-month primary vascular events in the DAPT group versus the AM group (hazard ratio, 0.84 [0.78–0.92];P&lt;0.001), with no interaction between acute treatment type and SPI-II risk subgroups (Pinteraction=0.44). However, among the high-risk patients with SPI-II scores &gt;7, a substantially larger absolute benefit was observed for 3-month composite vascular events in the DAPT group (weighted absolute risk differences, 5.4%), whereas smaller absolute benefits were observed among patients in the low- or medium-risk SPI-II subgroups (1.7% and 2.4%, respectively).Conclusions:Treatment with clopidogrel-aspirin was associated with a reduction in 3-month vascular events compared with AM in mild-to-moderate acute noncardioembolic ischemic stroke patients. Larger magnitudes of the effects of DAPT with clopidogrel-aspirin were observed in the high-risk subgroup by SPI-II risk scores.



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