Long-Term Outcomes of Invasive vs Conservative Strategies for Older Patients With Non-ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndromes

BACKGROUND Non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) is a frequent cause of hospital admission in older people, but clinical trials targeting this population are scarce. OBJECTIVES The After Eighty Study assessed the effect of an invasive vs a conservative treatment strategy in a very old population with NSTE-ACS. METHODS Between 2010 and 2014, the investigators randomized 457 patients with NSTE-ACS aged center dot 80 years (mean age 85 years) to an invasive strategy involving early coronary angiography with immediate evaluation for revasculari-zation and optimal medical therapy or to a conservative strategy (ie, optimal medical therapy). The primary endpoint was a composite of myocardial infarction, need for urgent revascularization, stroke, and death. The long-term outcomes are presented. RESULTS After a median follow up of 5.3 years, the invasive strategy was superior to the conservative strategy in the reduction of the primary endpoint (incidence rate ratio: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.63-0.93; P = 0.0057). The invasive strategy demonstrated a significant gain in event-free survival of 276 days (95% CI: 151-400 days; P = 0.0001) at 5 years and 337 days (95% CI: 123-550 days; P = 0.0001) at 10 years. These results were consistent across subgroups of patients with respect to major cardiovascular prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS In patients aged center dot 80 years with NSTE-ACS, the invasive strategy was superior to the conservative strategy in the reduction of composite events and demonstrated a significant gain in event-free survival. (The After Eighty Study: a randomized controlled trial; NCT01255540) (J Am Coll Cardiol 2023;82:2021-2030) (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

For patients aged over 80 with NSTE-ACS, an invasive treatment strategy was found to be superior in reducing composite events and improving event-free survival.