Baseline characteristics of the 3096 patients recruited into the 'Triple Antiplatelets for Reducing Dependency after Ischemic Stroke' trial

Bleeding with intensive versus guideline antiplatelet therapy in acute cerebral ischaemia

Intensive antiplatelet therapy did not reduce recurrent stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA) events as compared with guideline treatment in the Triple Antiplatelets for Reducing Dependency after Ischaemic Stroke (TARDIS) trial, but did increase the frequency and severity of bleeding. In this pre-specified analysis, we investigated predictors of bleeding and the association of bleeding with outcome. TARDIS was an international prospective randomised open-label blinded-endpoint trial in participants with ischaemic stroke or TIA within 48 h of onset. Participants were randomised to 30 days of intensive antiplatelet therapy (aspirin, clopidogrel, dipyridamole) or guideline-based therapy (either clopidogrel alone or combined aspirin and dipyridamole). Bleeding was defined using the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis five-level ordered categorical scale: fatal, major, moderate, minor, none. Of 3,096 participants, bleeding severity was: fatal 0.4%, major 1.5%, moderate 1.2%, minor 11.4%, none 85.5%. Major/fatal bleeding was increased with intensive as compared with guideline therapy: 39 vs. 17 participants, adjusted hazard ratio 2.21, 95% CI 1.24-3.93, p = 0.007. Bleeding events diverged between treatment groups in the 8-35 day period but not in the 0-7 or 36-90 day epochs. In multivariate analysis more, and more severe, bleeding events were seen with increasing age, female sex, pre-morbid dependency, increased time to randomisation, prior major bleed, prior antiplatelet therapy and in those randomised to triple vs guideline antiplatelet therapy. More severe bleeding was associated with worse clinical outcomes across multiple physical, emotional and quality of life domains.Trial registration ISRCTN47823388 .

Patients with Combination of Cardiovascular Diseases and Type 2 Diabetes in RECVASA and REGION Registries: Multimorbidity, Outcomes and Potential Effect of Dapagliflozin in the Russian Clinical Practice

Aim. To evaluate the structure of multimorbidity, outcomes and the potential effect of dapagliflozin in patients with a combination of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes in Russian clinical practice.

Material and methods. The data of 10 registries with the inclusion of 22957 people, including 4370 with type 2 diabetes in 6 regions of the Russian Federation, were analyzed. Scenarios for reducing mortality from all and cardiovascular causes and hospitalizations for CVD were simulated among groups of patients with diabetes combined with myocardial infarction (MI) and diabetes combined with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) based on data from the Federal Registry of diabetes, the RECVASA and REGION registries, relative risks associated with analyzed adverse events from the DECLARE study.

Results. When analyzing the data of all 22957 patients with CVD included in the registries, it was found that the proportion of patients with comorbid diabetes was on average 19.0%. Of the various diagnoses of CVD, the combination with diabetes was most often recorded in patients that had MI – 2.0%, stroke – 22.5% and heart failure – 24.0%. In the RECVASA registry (Ryazan) for 4 years of follow-up of 699 patients with a combination of CVD and diabetes mortality from all causes was 20.9%, and from cardiovascular causes – 15.6%. The simulated number of potentially prevented cardiovascular deaths with dapagliflozin taking in patients with diabetes combined with MI for 4 years in Russia will be 39124, and 37440 cardiovascular hospitalizations. The number of potentially preventable deaths from all causes among patients with diabetes combined with HFrEF will be 4543, cardiovascular deaths in 1995, and the number of prevented cardiovascular hospitalizations will be 7072.

Conclusion. According to data from the registries of CVD patients in 6 regions of the Russian Federation, it was revealed that in real clinical practice the proportion of people with comorbid diabetes averaged 19% both at the outpatient and hospital stages. These subgroups of multimorbid patients have both the highest risk of developing fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular complications, and the largest number of indications for prescribing drugs that affect the prognosis due to effects on both CVD and diabetes.

Triple versus guideline antiplatelet therapy to prevent recurrence after acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack: the TARDIS RCT

BACKGROUND

Two antiplatelet agents are better than one for preventing recurrent stroke after acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Therefore, intensive treatment with three agents might be better still, providing it does not cause undue bleeding.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the safety and efficacy of intensive therapy with guideline antiplatelet therapy for acute ischaemic stroke and TIA.

DESIGN

International prospective randomised open-label blinded end-point parallel-group superiority clinical trial.

SETTING

Acute hospitals at 106 sites in four countries.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients > 50 years of age with acute non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke or TIA within 48 hours of ictus (stroke).

INTERVENTIONS

Participants were allocated at random by computer to 1 month of intensive (combined aspirin, clopidogrel and dipyridamole) or guideline (combined aspirin and dipyridamole, or clopidogrel alone) antiplatelet agents, and followed for 90 days.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The primary outcome was the incidence and severity of any recurrent stroke (ischaemic, haemorrhagic; assessed using the modified Rankin Scale) or TIA within 90 days by blinded telephone follow-up. Analysis using ordinal logistic regression was by intention to treat. Other outcomes included bleeding and its severity, death, myocardial infarction (MI), disability, mood, cognition and quality of life.

RESULTS

The trial was stopped early on the recommendation of the Data Monitoring Committee after recruitment of 3096 participants (intensive, n = 1556; guideline, n = 1540) from 106 hospitals in four countries between April 2009 and March 2016. The incidence and severity of recurrent stroke or TIA did not differ between intensive and guideline therapy in 3070 (99.2%) participants with data [93 vs. 105 stroke/TIA events; adjusted common odds ratio 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.67 to 1.20; p = 0.47]. Major (encompassing fatal) bleeding was increased with intensive as compared with guideline therapy [39 vs. 17 participants; adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 2.23, 95% CI 1.25 to 3.96; p = 0.006]. There were no differences between the treatment groups in all-cause mortality, or the composite of death, stroke, MI and major bleeding (aHR 1.02, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.35; p = 0.88).

LIMITATIONS

Patients and investigators were not blinded to treatment. The comparator group comprised two guideline strategies because of changes in national guidelines during the trial. The trial was stopped early, thereby reducing its statistical power.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of three antiplatelet agents is associated with increased bleeding without any significant reduction in recurrence of stroke or TIA.

FUTURE WORK

The safety and efficacy of dual antiplatelet therapy (combined aspirin and clopidogrel) versus aspirin remains to be defined. Further research is required on identifying individual patient response to antiplatelets, and the relationship between response and the subsequent risks of vascular recurrent events and bleeding complications.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN47823388.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 22, No. 48. See the NIHR Journal Library website for further project information. The Triple Antiplatelets for Reducing Dependency after Ischaemic Stroke (TARDIS) vanguard phase was funded by the British Heart Foundation (grant PG/08/083/25779, from 1 April 2009 to 30 September 2012) and indirect funding was provided by the Stroke Association through its funding of the Stroke Trials Unit, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. There was no commercial support for the trial and antiplatelet drugs were sourced locally at each site. The trial was sponsored by the University of Nottingham.

Effect of dual antiplatelet on recurrent stroke in minor stroke or TIA depends on bodyweight

Objective

To assess whether bodyweight influences the efficacy and safety of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAT) in male patients with minor stroke or transient ischemic attack patients.

Materials and methods

All 3,420 male participants coming from the Clopidogrel in High-Risk Patients with Acute Non-disabling Cerebrovascular Events trial were divided into 3 groups based on bodyweight (<65 kg, 65–75 kg, and ≥75 kg). The stroke outcomes included stroke recurrence, combined vascular events, and bleeding events during 90 days of follow-up. The interaction of the treatment effects of DAT among patients with different bodyweight was assessed by Cox proportional hazards models.

Results

DAT is superior to mono antiplatelet therapy (MAT) for reducing stroke recurrence among patients with weight <65 kg (5.0% vs 11.7%; hazard ratio [HR], 0.41; 95% CI: 0.22–0.76) and 65–75 kg (6.7% vs 10.8%, HR, 0.62; 95% CI: 0.43–0.89). However, no significant difference was found in stroke recurrence between DAT and MAT in patients with weight ≥75 kg (9.4% vs 11.6%; HR, 0.80; 95% CI: 0.58–1.10). A significant interaction was observed between weight and antiplatelet therapy on stroke recurrence (p<0.05). Similar result was found for combined vascular events. More bleeding events were found in DAT group among patients with <65 kg (3.7% vs 2.2%), but with no significant difference.

Conclusion

DAT does not show benefit in patients with higher weight, compared with MAT. Bleeding events found in the DAT group were not more than the MAT group among patients with lower weight.

Clinical trial registration

URL: http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00979589.

Antiplatelet therapy with aspirin, clopidogrel, and dipyridamole versus clopidogrel alone or aspirin and dipyridamole in patients with acute cerebral ischaemia (TARDIS): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 superiority trial

BACKGROUND

Intensive antiplatelet therapy with three agents might be more effective than guideline treatment for preventing recurrent events in patients with acute cerebral ischaemia. We aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of intensive antiplatelet therapy (combined aspirin, clopidogrel, and dipyridamole) with that of guideline-based antiplatelet therapy.

METHODS

We did an international, prospective, randomised, open-label, blinded-endpoint trial in adult participants with ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) within 48 h of onset. Participants were assigned in a 1:1 ratio using computer randomisation to receive loading doses and then 30 days of intensive antiplatelet therapy (combined aspirin 75 mg, clopidogrel 75 mg, and dipyridamole 200 mg twice daily) or guideline-based therapy (comprising either clopidogrel alone or combined aspirin and dipyridamole). Randomisation was stratified by country and index event, and minimised with prognostic baseline factors, medication use, time to randomisation, stroke-related factors, and thrombolysis. The ordinal primary outcome was the combined incidence and severity of any recurrent stroke (ischaemic or haemorrhagic; assessed using the modified Rankin Scale) or TIA within 90 days, as assessed by central telephone follow-up with masking to treatment assignment, and analysed by intention to treat. This trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN47823388.

FINDINGS

3096 participants (1556 in the intensive antiplatelet therapy group, 1540 in the guideline antiplatelet therapy group) were recruited from 106 hospitals in four countries between April 7, 2009, and March 18, 2016. The trial was stopped early on the recommendation of the data monitoring committee. The incidence and severity of recurrent stroke or TIA did not differ between intensive and guideline therapy (93 [6%] participants vs 105 [7%]; adjusted common odds ratio [cOR] 0·90, 95% CI 0·67-1·20, p=0·47). By contrast, intensive antiplatelet therapy was associated with more, and more severe, bleeding (adjusted cOR 2·54, 95% CI 2·05-3·16, p<0·0001).

INTERPRETATION

Among patients with recent cerebral ischaemia, intensive antiplatelet therapy did not reduce the incidence and severity of recurrent stroke or TIA, but did significantly increase the risk of major bleeding. Triple antiplatelet therapy should not be used in routine clinical practice.

FUNDING

National Institutes of Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme, British Heart Foundation.