Background/purpose: Evidence-based guidelines have been formulated for optimal management of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The Taiwan ACS Full Spectrum Registry aimed to evaluate the ACS management and identify the predictors of clinical outcomes of death/myocardial infarction/stroke 1 year post hospital discharge.
Methods: Three thousand and eighty confirmed ACS patients enrolled in this registry were followed up for 1 year at 3-month intervals. Patient data on medical interventions as well as clinical events were recorded and analyzed by descriptive statistics.
Results: One-year mortality among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-STEMI (NSTEMI) and unstable angina was 6.1%, 10.1%, and 6.2%, respectively. Use of secondary preventive therapies was suboptimal throughout the follow-up phase, especially dual antiplatelet therapy, which fell from 74.8% patients at discharge to 24.9% patients at 1-year follow-up. The odds of an adverse incidence of death/myocardial infarction/stroke 1 year after discharge was significantly reduced in patients receiving aspirin and clopidogrel for ≥9 months and was consequently higher in patients in whom dual antiplatelet therapy was discontinued or prescribed for <9 months. Chronic renal failure, in-hospital bleeding, a diagnosis of NSTEMI, and antiplatelet therapy discontinuation had a negative association with 1-year outcomes, whereas the use of drug-eluting stents and antiplatelet agents, clopidogrel and aspirin, were predictors of positive outcomes.
Conclusion: There is a significant deviation from evidence-based guidelines in ACS management in Taiwan as reported in other countries. Policy adherence, especially with regard to dual antiplatelet therapy may hold the key to long-term favorable outcomes and improved survival rates in ACS patients in Taiwan.
Keywords: Taiwan; acute coronary syndrome; antiplatelet agents; clopidogrel; survival rates.
Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.