High Bleeding Incidence in Unselected Hospitalized Suspected Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Patients Aged Under 65 Years.

High bleeding risk (HBR) is commonly encountered among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and bleeding complications are associated with worse prognosis. Data on bleeding events of patients with ACS are based almost exclusively on percutaneous coronary intervention registries. Enrolling only patients suitable for invasive procedures might have skewed the observed bleeding incidence. We sought to investigate bleeding incidence in unselected patients with ACS. Patients were retrospectively enrolled between January and June 2019 from the emergency department of a tertiary hospital. All consecutive hospitalized adults with suspected non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction were included. Data was gathered by a database search and verified using electronic patient records. Bleeding risk was assessed according to the Academic Research Consortium for High Bleeding Risk (ARC-HBR) definition. The primary end point was a composite of post- discharge Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 2, 3, and 5 bleeding during 1-year follow-up. Of the 209 included patients, 15 (7.2%) suffered a bleeding event. There were more bleeding events among dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) users as compared with those without DAPT (10.7% vs 3.1%, p = 0.033). Among HBR patients, 6.1% and in non-HBR patients 8.1% suffered a bleeding event (p = 0.579). Notably, major bleeding (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 3) incidence was highest in patients <65 years and without DAPT use. In conclusion, unselected suspected non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients aged <65 years had surprisingly high bleeding incidence, regardless of ARC-HBR status or DAPT use.

Prevalence of High Bleeding Risk among Hospitalized Suspected NSTEMI Patients.

In recent years, guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) have placed more emphasis on identifying patients at high bleeding risk (HBR). We set out to investigate the prevalence of HBR patients according to the Academic Research Consortium for High Bleeding Risk (ARC-HBR) criteria in hospitalized patients with suspected non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Consecutive patients were retrospectively enrolled between January and June 2019 from the emergency department (ED) of a tertiary hospital. The discharge diagnosis and baseline data were manually collected using electronic patient records and database searches. Patients with non-cardiac diagnoses were excluded. Overall, 212 patients were included in the study. A total of 146 (68.9%) patients were diagnosed with NSTEMI (Type 1), 47 (22.2%) with unstable angina pectoris (UAP) and 19 (9.0%) with "other." HBR was detected in 47.6% (n = 101) of all patients. Common criteria for HBR among ACS patients were age (40.4%), chronic kidney disease (33.7%), and the use of oral anticoagulation medicines (20.2%). In conclusion, nearly half of the patients hospitalized for ACS fulfilled HBR criteria. According to contemporary guidelines, the management of HBR patients differs from that of non-HBR patients, and thus, a more comprehensive screening for HBR may be considered in clinical practice.