Antiplatelet therapy use after discharge among acute myocardial infarction patients with in-hospital bleeding.

ACKGROUND: Bleeding among patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with worse long-term outcomes. Although the mechanism underlying this association is unclear, a potential explanation is that withholding antiplatelet therapies long beyond resolution of the bleeding event may contribute to recurrent events.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined medication use at discharge, 1, 6, and 12 months after AMI among 2498 patients in the Prospective Registry Evaluating Myocardial Infarction: Events and Recovery (PREMIER) registry. Bleeding was defined as non-coronary artery bypass graft-related Thrombolysis of Myocardial Infarction major/minor bleeding or transfusion among patients with baseline hematocrit > or =28%. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between bleeding during the index AMI hospitalization and medication use. In-hospital bleeding occurred in 301 patients (12%) with AMI. Patients with in-hospital bleeding were less likely to be discharged on aspirin or thienopyridine (adjusted odds ratio=0.45; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.64; and odds ratio=0.62; 95% CI, 0.42 to 0.91, respectively). At 1 month after discharge, although patients with in-hospital bleeding remained significantly less likely to receive aspirin (odds ratio=0.68; 95% CI, 0.50 to 0.92), use of thienopyridines in the 2 groups started to become similar. By 1 year, antiplatelet therapy use was similar among patients with and without bleeding. Postdischarge cardiology follow-up was associated with greater antiplatelet therapy use than either primary care or no clinical follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: Patients whose index AMI is complicated by bleeding are less likely to be treated with antiplatelet therapies during the first 6 months after discharge. Early reassessment of antiplatelet eligibility may represent an opportunity to reduce the long-term risk of adverse outcomes associated with bleeding.