Purpose: In patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with the paclitaxel-eluting stent, we examined whether patient-rated health status predicts adverse clinical events.
Methods: Consecutive PCI patients treated with drug-eluting stenting (N = 870; 72.2% men; mean age = 62.6 ± 11.5) completed the EQ-5D post-PCI. The EQ-5D levels were dichotomized into 'no problems' (level 1) versus 'problems' (levels 2, 3); the visual analogue scale (VAS) was dichotomized using the 25th percentile (cut-off ≤60) indicating poor health status. Patients were followed up for 1-year clinical events (death or non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI)).
Results: There were 53 deaths/MIs at follow-up. The EQ-5D health status dimensions mobility (HR:2.23; 95% CI:1.25-3.97), self-care (HR:3.09; 95% CI:1.54-6.20), and self-reported health status as measured with the EQ-VAS (HR:2.94; 95% CI:1.65-5.25) were independent predictors of death/MI and added to the predictive value of a model comprised of demographic and clinical characteristics. The EQ-5D dimensions usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression were not associated with adverse clinical events in adjusted analysis.
Conclusions: Patient-rated health status predicted adverse clinical events at 1-year follow-up in PCI patients treated with drug-eluting stenting, with the risk being more than 2-fold independent of disease severity and other demographic and clinical characteristics. It may be timely to adopt standard assessment of health status in clinical practice.