Impact of combined pharmacologic treatment with clopidogrel and a statin on outcomes of patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes: perspectives from a large multinational registry

AIMS: To evaluate clinical outcomes associated with the combined use of clopidogrel and statins vs. clopidogrel alone on a background of aspirin therapy in patients with the spectrum of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). METHODS AND RESULTS: Utilizing data from the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events, we studied 15 693 patients admitted with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (MI) or unstable angina, dividing them according to discharge medications: aspirin alone (group I); aspirin + clopidogrel (group II); aspirin + statin (group III); aspirin + clopidogrel + statin (group IV). Among the groups of patients in whom clopidogrel was used (groups II and IV), group II patients were older, more likely to have prior MI, but less likely to have a history of prior revascularization. In-hospital cardiac catheterization and revascularization rates were similar between groups II and IV. Importantly, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 6 month mortality rate was lower in group IV (log-rank test 22.8, P<0.0001). The hazard ratio for the 6 month mortality rate was adjusted using the Cox proportional hazard model for confounding variables and for propensity score, and the 6 month mortality rate for patients in group IV remained lower compared with those in group II [0.59 (0.41-0.86), P<0.0001]. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the combination of clopidogrel with a statin has synergistic effects on the clinical outcomes of patients with non-ST-segment elevation ACS.