Baseline characteristics of ACS and STEMI participants, overall and by intervention status (AC vs AP vs AT)
| ACS | STEMI | ||||||||||
| Overall n=4689 | AC n=2769 | AT n=1920 | SMD* (AC vs AT) | Overall n=2587 | AC n=1023 | AP n=406 | AT n=1158 | SMD (AP vs AC) | SMD (AT vs AC) | ||
| Demography | |||||||||||
| Year of event; n (%) | 2012/2013 | 1303 (28%) | 1090 (39%) | 213 (11%) | 0.78 | 713 (28%) | 425 (42%) | 170 (42%) | 118 (10%) | 0.12 | 0.91 |
| 2013/2014 | 1147 (24%) | 710 (26%) | 437 (23%) | 629 (24%) | 288 (28%) | 98 (24%) | 243 (21%) | ||||
| 2014/2015 | 1025 (22%) | 493 (18%) | 532 (28%) | 564 (22%) | 163 (16%) | 78 (19%) | 323 (28%) | ||||
| 2015/2016 | 733 (16%) | 302 (11%) | 431 (22%) | 423 (16%) | 99 (10%) | 43 (11%) | 281 (24%) | ||||
| 2016/2017† | 481 (10%) | 174 (6%) | 307 (16%) | 258 (10%) | 48 (5%) | 17 (4%) | 193 (17%) | ||||
| Age, years (mean; SD) | 64.6 (12.4) | 66.1 (12.4) | 62.5 (11.9) | 0.30 | 63.0 (12.3) | 65.8 (12.7) | 58.8 (10.0) | 62.0 (12.0) | 0.61 | 0.31 | |
| Sex; n (%) | Male | 3418 (73%) | 2007 (72%) | 1411 (73%) | 0.02 | 1923 (74%) | 736 (72%) | 331 (82%) | 856 (74%) | 0.23 | 0.04 |
| Female | 1271 (27%) | 762 (28%) | 509 (27%) | 664 (26%) | 287 (28%) | 75 (18%) | 302 (26%) | ||||
| BMI,‡ kg/m2 (mean; SD) | 28.4 (5.2) | 28.3 (5.1) | 28.4 (5.3) | 0.01 | 28.0 (4.9) | 27.8 (4.8) | 28.1 (4.6) | 28.0 (531) | 0.07 | 0.04 | |
| Ethnic group; n (%) | White | 4275 (91%) | 2520 (91%) | 1755 (91%) | 0.01 | 2382 (92%) | 944 (92%) | 372 (92%) | 1066 (92%) | 0.02 | 0.01 |
| Non-white | 414 (9%) | 249 (9%) | 165 (9%) | 205 (8%) | 79 (8%) | 34 (8%) | 92 (8%) | ||||
| Smoking category§; n (%) | Ex-smoker | 1443 (32%) | 891 (33%) | 552 (30%) | 0.15 | 722 (29%) | 295 (30%) | 105 (27%) | 322 (29%) | 0.27 | 0.11 |
| Non-smoker | 1699 (38%) | 1047 (39%) | 652 (36%) | 829 (34%) | 359 (37%) | 107 (28%) | 363 (33%) | ||||
| Smoker | 1357 (30%) | 730 (27%) | 627 (34%) | 909 (37%) | 318 (33%) | 177 (46%) | 414 (38%) | ||||
| Medical history | |||||||||||
| History of MI (ever); n (%) | 3616 (77%) | 2153 (78%) | 1463 (76%) | 0.03 | 1941 (75%) | 797 (78%) | 290 (71%) | 854 (74%) | 0.14 | 0.09 | |
| History of CABG/PCI (ever); n (%) | 1472 (31%) | 899 (32%) | 573 (30%) | 0.03 | 593 (23%) | 243 (24%) | 71 (17%) | 279 (24%) | 0.10 | 0.05 | |
| Bleeding; n (%) | 92 (2%) | 50 (2%) | 42 (2%) | 0.03 | 63 (2%) | 24 (2%) | 11 (3%) | 28 (2%) | 0.02 | 0.01 | |
| Previous surgery; n (%) | 178 (4%) | 126 (5%) | 52 (3%) | 0.10 | 75 (3%) | 34 (3%) | 10 (2%) | 31 (3%) | 0.05 | 0.04 | |
| History of IHD (ever); n (%) | 4084 (87%) | 2489 (90%) | 1595 (83%) | 0.19 | 2052 (79%) | 842 (82%) | 305 (75%) | 905 (78%) | 0.17 | 0.10 | |
| Comorbidities | |||||||||||
| Diabetes; n (%) | 924 (20%) | 568 (21%) | 356 (19%) | 0.05 | 397 (15%) | 167 (16%) | 47 (12%) | 183 (16%) | 0.14 | 0.01 | |
| Hypertension; n (%) | 1857 (40%) | 1192 (43%) | 665 (35%) | 0.17 | 705 (27%) | 306 (30%) | 84 (21%) | 315 (27%) | 0.21 | 0.05 | |
| Hypercholesterolaemia; n (%) | 903 (19%) | 597 (22%) | 306 (16%) | 0.15 | 263 (10%) | 126 (12%) | 29 (7%) | 108 (9%) | 0.16 | 0.10 | |
| Peripheral vascular disease; n (%) | 198 (4%) | 141 (5%) | 57 (3%) | 0.11 | 72 (3%) | 36 (4%) | 10 (2%) | 26 (2%) | 0.06 | 0.08 | |
| Stroke; n (%) | 17 (0.4%) | 12 (0.4%) | 5 (0.3%) | 0.04 | 11 (0.4%) | 6 (1%) | 1 (0.2%) | 4 (0.3%) | 0.05 | 0.05 | |
| Heart failure; n (%) | 308 (7%) | 193 (7%) | 115 (6%) | 0.03 | 155 (6%) | 61 (6%) | 23 (6%) | 71 (6%) | 0.004 | 0.02 | |
| Peptic ulcer disease; n (%) | 14 (0.3%) | 10 (0.4%) | 4 (0.2%) | 0.03 | 3 (0.1%) | 1 (0.1%) | 0 | 2 (0.2%) | 0.04 | 0.02 | |
| Haemodialysis or renal disease; n (%) | 196 (4%) | 139 (5%) | 57 (3%) | 0.11 | 55 (2%) | 29 (3%) | 5 (1%) | 21 (2%) | 0.12 | 0.08 | |
| Cancer; n (%) | 191 (4%) | 134 (5%) | 57 (3%) | 0.10 | 80 (3%) | 34 (3%) | 11 (3%) | 35 (3%) | 0.04 | 0.02 | |
| Clotting disorder; n (%) | 9 (0.2%) | 5 (0.2%) | 4 (0.2%) | 0.001 | 5 (0.2%) | 1 (0.1%) | 0 | 4 (0.3%) | 0.04 | 0.05 | |
| Anaemia; n (%) | 106 (2%) | 80 (3%) | 26 (1%) | 0.11 | 25 (1%) | 10 (1%) | 4 (1%) | 11 (1%) | 0.001 | 0.003 | |
| Liver cirrhosis; n (%) | 1 (0.02%) | 0 | 1 (0.1%) | 0 | 0 (0%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | |
| Co-interventions | |||||||||||
| NSAIDs; n (%) | 903 (19%) | 552 (20%) | 351 (18%) | 0.04 | 450 (17%) | 185 (18%) | 65 (16%) | 200 (17%) | 0.06 | 0.02 | |
| Steroids; n (%) | 417 (9%) | 256 (9%) | 161 (8%) | 0.03 | 209 (8%) | 87 (9%) | 25 (6%) | 97 (8%) | 0.09 | 0.01 | |
| PPIs; n (%) | 1612 (34%) | 994 (36%) | 618 (32%) | 0.08 | 785 (30%) | 318 (31%) | 114 (28%) | 353 (30%) | 0.07 | 0.01 | |
| Anticoagulants; n (%) | 23 (0.4%) | 17 (1%) | 6 (0.3%) | 0.04 | 11 (0.4%) | 4 (0.4%) | 3 (1%) | 4 (0.3%) | 0.05 | 0.01 | |
*Restricted to 2012–2017.
†The number of eligible patients decreased every year between 2010 and 2017 because of the decline in the number of practices in CPRD GOLD over time.
Missing data: ‡407 patients; §212 patients.
AC, aspirin and clopidogrel; ACS, acute coronary syndrome; AP, aspirin and prasugrel; AT, aspirin and ticagrelor; BMI, body mass index; CABG, coronary artery bypass graft; CPRD, Clinical Practice Research Datalink; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; MI, myocardial infarction; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention; PPI, proton-pump inhibitor drugs; SMD, standardised mean difference; STEMI, ST-elevation myocardial infarction.