One-year cardiovascular outcomes of drug-eluting stent versus bare-metal stent implanted in diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome

Abstract Background The outcomes of drug-eluting stent (DES) versus bare-metal stent (BMS) use in patients with diabetic mellitus (DM) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are rarely reported in Taiwan. This study aimed to investigate the 1-year cardiovascular outcomes of DESs versus BMSs implanted in Taiwanese patients with DM and ACS. Methods For this study, we collected and analyzed patient information from the database of the Taiwan ACS Full Spectrum registry regarding characteristics and cardiovascular events in participants with DM and ACS who received implantation of either BMS (BMS group) or DES (DES group) from October 2008 to January 2010. Results We found that several characteristics significantly varied between the groups. Compared with the BMS group ( n  = 575), the DES group ( n  = 199) had significantly lower rates of in-hospital cardiogenic shock (1.5% vs. 4.9%, p  = 0.037) and acute renal failure (0.5% vs. 4.5%, p  = 0.008), all-cause mortality (5.0% vs. 8.9%, p  = 0.048), and major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) at 1 year (11.1% vs. 18.6%, p  = 0.006) with an identical target vessel revascularization (TVR) rate (6.0% vs. 7.3%, p  = 0.395). The BMS group had significantly higher risk-adjusted all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0–5.7; p  = 0.048] and MACE (HR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.2–3.9; p  = 0.011) at 1 year with identical risks of TVR (HR = 1.3, 95% CI 0.6–2.9; p  = 0.505) and nonfatal myocardial infarction (HR = 1.5, 95% CI 0.5–4.4; p  = 0.478). Conclusion The results of this study support the use of DES over BMS in Taiwanese patients with DM and ACS, providing the clinical benefits of lower rates of total mortality and MACE, and without increased TVR at 1 year in a real-world setting.