Drug-Eluting and Bare-Metal Stents in Medicare-Eligible Patients

In a large registry study, death and MI rates were lower in DES recipients than in BMS recipients, but revascularization rates were similar in the two groups.

To compare the effectiveness of drug-eluting stents (DES) with that of bare-metal stents (BMS), these investigators linked the American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services national claims database. The study population included 262,700 patients aged ≥65 who underwent stent implantation (45,025 BMS and 217,675 DES) during 2004 through 2006. The investigators used propensity matching and Cox models to adjust for differences in baseline characteristics between the groups.

At 30 months of follow-up, mortality was significantly lower in DES recipients than in BMS recipients (13.5% vs. 16.5%; hazard ratio, 0.75). The adjusted MI rate was also significantly lower in DES rec…

Reviewing Author

Howard C. Herrmann, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardAffluent Medical; Artedrone; Caranx; Johnson & Johnson; Medtronic; Prolifagen; Wells Fargo

EquityMicrointerventional Devices, Inc.

RoyaltiesUniversity of Pennsylvania

Grant/Research SupportAbbott Vascular; Edwards Lifesciences; Johnson & Johnson; Medtronic

Editorial BoardsCatheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions; Journal of the American College of Cardiology; Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions; JACC Cardiovascular Interventions; JACC Case Reports; JSCAI