In-hospital major bleeding and its clinical relevance in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Advances in antithrombotic therapy for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) enhance the risk of bleeding. Therefore, the incidence, determinants, and prognostic implications of in-hospital major bleeding after primary percutaneous coronary intervention for STEMI were investigated. In 963 consecutive patients, the incidence of bleeding was evaluated according to commonly used classifications including Can Rapid risk stratification of Unstable angina patients Suppress Adverse outcomes with Early implementation of the ACC/AHA guidelines, Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction, Global Use of Strategies To Open coronary arteries, and Bleeding Academic Research Consortium. Multivariate regression analyses investigated determinants of bleeding and the relation between bleeding and 1-year all-cause mortality. Large variability in incidence existed depending on classification (1.3% to 21%). Female gender, heart rate, creatinine, multivessel disease, cardiogenic shock, and procedural failure were independently associated with bleeding. One-year mortality reached 10.2% in bleeders versus 2.0% in nonbleeders (p <0.001). Bleeding was independently associated with an increased risk of 1-year mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 2.41, p <0.017). Assessment of individual classifications confirmed the increased risk of mortality for Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (HR 2.27, p = 0.048), but not for Can Rapid risk stratification of Unstable angina patients Suppress Adverse outcomes with Early implementation of the ACC/AHA guidelines, Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction, and Global Use of Strategies To Open coronary arteries bleeding. Thrombotic events occurred more frequently in bleeders (5.8% vs 1.5%, p <0.001); however, bleeding remained independently related to mortality with a negligible reduction in HR (2.25, p = 0.028) after adjustment. In conclusion, in-hospital major bleeding was frequently observed after STEMI, but a widespread variation in incidence existed depending on the applied definition. Patient and procedural characteristics were related to bleeding, allowing identification of high-risk patients. In-hospital major bleeding was independently associated with 1-year all-cause mortality; however, not all bleeding classifications proved equally relevant to prognosis. The relation between bleeding and mortality was shown not to be driven by the higher rate of thrombotic events among bleeders.