10% of stent patients are missing out on recommended therapy
The cost of the medicine and the inconvenience of visiting a GP are common barriers, says Dr Sarah Zaman
One in 10 patients who undergo stent implantation miss out on guideline-recommended dual antiplatelet therapy within 30 days of discharge, Australian data show.
A UNSW Sydney-led team say their findings raise important questions about why some patients don’t receive the therapy (aspirin plus either clopidogrel, prasugrel or ticagrelor).
The Sydney researchers used deidentified, linked PBS and MBS data for a 10% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries to determine the rates of antiplatelet dispensing within 30 days of discharge between 2013 and 2014.
Among the 2869 private patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stent implantation in the study period, 10% did not receive dual antiplatelet therapy post-procedure.
