Impact of severity of baseline thrombocytopenia on outcomes after percutaneous coronary interventions: Analysis from the Veterans Affairs Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking (VA CART) Program

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the degree of severity of baseline thrombocytopenia (TCP) on outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) BACKGROUND: The association of TCP with clinical outcomes among patients undergoing coronary intervention has not been previously evaluated.Using data from the US Veterans Affairs Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking (CART) Program, we identified patients undergoing PCI between October 1, 2007, to September 30, 2017. The cohort was then stratified by platelet count, as no TCP (platelet count150,000/mcl), mild TCP (100-150,000/mcl), or moderate-severe TCP (100,000/mcl) and this was associated with clinical outcomes.The cohort included 80,427 patients (98% male), of which 14.9% (13.2% mild, 1.7% moderate-severe) suffered from TCP at the time of PCI. Compared with mild or no TCP, moderate-severe TCP was associated with increased risk of post-PCI pericardiocentesis (0.6% vs. 0.2% vs. 0.2%, p = 0.018) and in-hospital mortality (1.5% vs. 0.7% vs. 0.7%) without a difference in postprocedure stroke (0.5% vs. 0.3% vs. 0.3%, p = 0.6). Over a median follow-up of 1729 days, time-to-repeat revascularization was significantly shorter in moderate-severe TCP (1080 vs. 1347 vs. 1467 days, p 0.001) despite lower risk of revascularization. Both mild (adjusted HR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.07-1.15, p 0.001) and moderate-severe TCP (HR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.43-1.69, p 0.001) were associated with increased all-cause mortality compared with those without TCP.Thrombocytopenia was associated with increased short- and long-term adverse events among patients undergoing PCI. Any degree of TCP was associated with increased long-term all-cause mortality while moderate-severe TCP was also associated with increased risk of periprocedural adverse events.