Frailty and Bleeding After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive ability of frailty for bleeding after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In 2439 patients who underwent their PCI, frailty was prospectively assessed according to the Canadian Study of Health and Aging clinical frailty scale (CFS). Patients were divided into three groups according to the CFS: low (CFS levels 1 to 3; 1748 patients, 71.7%), intermediate (CFS levels 4 to 6; 519 patients, 21.3%), and high CFS groups (CFS levels 7 to 9; 172 patients, 7.1%). Academic Research Consortium High Bleeding Risk (ARC-HBR) was present in 47.3% in the low CFS group, in 83.2% in the intermediate CFS group and in 89.0% in the high CFS group (p <0.001). Patients in the intermediate and high CFS groups were associated with higher 1-year major bleeding risk after PCI in the overall cohort (HR 3.82, 95% CI 2.65 to 5.51, p <0.001, and HR 7.81, 95% CI 5.07 to 12.0, p <0.001, respectively). Patients in the high CFS group were also associated with higher 1-year major bleeding risk regardless of having the high bleeding risk (HBR) according to ARC-HBR. In conclusion, the association of frailty with 1-year major bleeding was consistently observed in patients with and without HBR, indicating that frailty per se might be a predictor for major bleeding after PCI on top of HBR criteria.