Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Reduced-Dose Prasugrel versus Clopidogrel in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

OBJECTIVES

This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) compared the clinical efficacy and safety of reduced-dose prasugrel (loading dose: 20 mg; daily maintenance dose: 3.75 mg) and clopidogrel in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library database were searched for relevant articles from inception to March 8, 2021. Only RCTs that compared the clinical efficacy and safety of reduced-dose prasugrel and clopidogrel treatment in adult patients undergoing PCI were included. The primary outcome was the risk of major cardiovascular events (MACEs).

RESULTS

Four RCTs involving 2464 patients were included. The overall risk of MACEs was 8.3% (102/1235) in the study group (reduced-dose prasugrel) and 9.8% (121/1229) in the control group (clopidogrel). No significant difference was observed in the risk of MACEs between the study and control groups (risk ratio: 0.84, 95% confidence interval: 0.65-1.08, = 0%). In addition, cardiovascular-related death, all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, revascularization, and stent thrombosis did not differ significantly between the two groups. Apart from a higher risk of minor bleeding in the study group, reduced-dose prasugrel had a similar bleeding risk to clopidogrel.

CONCLUSIONS

The clinical efficacy of reduced-dose prasugrel is comparable to that of clopidogrel; however, the risk of minor bleeding should be considered when prescribing this regimen for patients undergoing PCI.