Aspirin is a widely used antiplatelet drug. However, several studies suggest clopidogrel may offer better long-term secondary prevention in patients following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). To explore this further, a study compared the effects of clopidogrel and aspirin on reducing thrombotic and bleeding events in 3,974 patients (mean age – 63.4 years) with high bleeding risk (HBR) after PCI.
Over a 5.9-year follow-up period, the study found that clopidogrel was associated with lower rates of thrombotic and bleeding events than aspirin, regardless of patients with HBR or PCI complexity. Clopidogrel significantly reduced thrombotic events in HBR patients (hazard ratio [HR] – 0.75), non-HBR patients (HR – 0.62), patients with complex PCI (HR – 0.49), and patients with non-complex PCI (HR – 0.74). Similarly, it also consistently reduced bleeding risk in all groups of…
