[Prognosis at six months for coronary patients: impact of antiplatelet agents and statins].

Purpose: The aim of the PREVENIR III study was to assess, in secondary prevention, the risk after six months of subsequent coronary and cerebrovascular events.

Methods: A prospective observational survey, including patients diagnosed with previous myocardial infarction, unstable angina or ischemic stroke, was carried out by French general practitioners and cardiologists.

Results: 9556 patients were selected by 3746 physicians representative of French physicians. The medical records of 6859 patients with previous unstable angina or myocardial infarction were analyzed. After a 6-month follow-up, 84 patients (1.2%) had been hospitalized for coronary or cerebrovascular event i.e. cumulative incidence 3.1 per 100 person-years (95% CI 2.4-3.8) and 67 patients died (1.0%) i.e. 2.5 per 100 person-years (95% CI 1.9-3.1). Patients treated with statins and antiplatelet agents were less likely to undergo subsequent vascular events (relative risk: 0.35; 95% CI 0.20-0.61) than patients not receiving statins or antiplatelet agents. All-cause mortality rate decreased dramatically (relative risk: 0.32; 95% CI 0.16-0.65) in patients treated with a combination of statins and antiplatelet agents when compared to patients treated with neither statins nor antiplatelet agents.

Conclusion: This work enabled a better understanding of the prognosis at six months in a large sample of coronary patients. We observed the beneficial impact of the combination of statins and antiplatelet agents in secondary prevention.