Effect of 1-Month Dual Antiplatelet Therapy Followed by Clopidogrel vs 12-Month Dual Antiplatelet Therapy on Cardiovascular and Bleeding Events in Patients Receiving PCI: The STOPDAPT-2 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Very short mandatory dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with a drug-eluting stent may be an attractive option.

Objective: To test the hypothesis of noninferiority of 1 month of DAPT compared with standard 12 months of DAPT for a composite end point of cardiovascular and bleeding events.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Multicenter, open-label, randomized clinical trial enrolling 3045 patients who underwent PCI at 90 hospitals in Japan from December 2015 through December 2017. Final 1-year clinical follow-up was completed in January 2019.

Interventions: Patients were randomized either to 1 month of DAPT followed by clopidogrel monotherapy (n=1523) or to 12 months of DAPT with aspirin and clopidogrel (n=1522).

Main Outcomes And Measures: The primary end point was a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, definite stent thrombosis, or major or minor bleeding at 12 months, with a relative noninferiority margin of 50%. The major secondary cardiovascular end point was a composite of cardiovascular death, MI, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, or definite stent thrombosis and the major secondary bleeding end point was major or minor bleeding.

Results: Among 3045 patients randomized, 36 withdrew consent; of 3009 remaining, 2974 (99%) completed the trial. One-month DAPT was both noninferior and superior to 12-month DAPT for the primary end point, occurring in 2.36% with 1-month DAPT and 3.70% with 12-month DAPT (absolute difference, -1.34% [95% CI, -2.57% to -0.11%]; hazard ratio [HR], 0.64 [95% CI, 0.42-0.98]), meeting criteria for noninferiority (P < .001) and for superiority (P = .04). The major secondary cardiovascular end point occurred in 1.96% with 1-month DAPT and 2.51% with 12-month DAPT (absolute difference, -0.55% [95% CI, -1.62% to 0.52%]; HR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.49-1.29]), meeting criteria for noninferiority (P = .005) but not for superiority (P = .34). The major secondary bleeding end point occurred in 0.41% with 1-month DAPT and 1.54% with 12-month DAPT (absolute difference, -1.13% [95% CI, -1.84% to -0.42%]; HR, 0.26 [95% CI, 0.11-0.64]; P = .004 for superiority).

Conclusions And Relevance: Among patients undergoing PCI, 1 month of DAPT followed by clopidogrel monotherapy, compared with 12 months of DAPT with aspirin and clopidogrel, resulted in a significantly lower rate of a composite of cardiovascular and bleeding events, meeting criteria for both noninferiority and superiority. These findings suggest that a shorter duration of DAPT may provide benefit, although given study limitations, additional research is needed in other populations.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02619760.