Numerous healthcare organizations, including the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, have recommended the use of ticagrelor instead of clopidogrel for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
However, according to a new study published in JAMA, the two medications are associated with similar outcomes among patients who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
The authors tracked data from more than 62,000 adult patients who received treatment in the United States or South Korea from November 2011 to March 2019. Half of the patients took ticagrelor, and the other half took clopidogrel. Nearly 96% of participants also took aspirin at the same time.
After one year, the team observed, the risk of experiencing a net adverse clinical events was “not significantly different between ticagrelor and clopidogrel.” The same similarities were seen in all-cause mortality and ischemic events.
However, the patients taking ticagrelor had a greater risk of hemorrhagic events (2.1% vs. 1.6%) and dyspnea (27.3% vs. 22.6%) than the patients on clopidogrel.
The authors did note that additional research was needed in this area.
“Because the possibility of unmeasured confounders cannot be excluded, further research is needed to determine whether ticagrelor is more effective than clopidogrel in this setting,” wrote lead author Seng Chan You, MD, MS, Ajou University School of Medicine in Suwon, Korea, and colleagues.
The full JAMA study is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.