Objective
To assess the risks and benefits of P2Y
12
inhibitor monotherapy compared with dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) and whether these associations are modified by patients’ characteristics.
Design
Individual patient level meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Data sources
Searches were conducted in Ovid Medline, Embase, and three websites (
www.tctmd.com
,
www.escardio.org
,
www.acc.org/cardiosourceplus
) from inception to 16 July 2020. The primary authors provided individual participant data.
Eligibility criteria
Randomised controlled trials comparing effects of oral P2Y
12
monotherapy and DAPT on centrally adjudicated endpoints after coronary revascularisation in patients without an indication for oral anticoagulation.
Main outcome measures
The primary outcome was a composite of all cause death, myocardial infarction, and stroke, tested for non-inferiority against a margin of 1.15 for the hazard ratio. The key safety endpoint was Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) type 3 or type 5 bleeding.
Results
The meta-analysis included data from six trials, including 24 096 patients. The primary outcome occurred in 283 (2.95%) patients with P2Y
12
inhibitor monotherapy and 315 (3.27%) with DAPT in the per protocol population (hazard ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.79 to 1.09; P=0.005 for non-inferiority; P=0.38 for superiority; τ
2
=0.00) and in 303 (2.94%) with P2Y
12
inhibitor monotherapy and 338 (3.36%) with DAPT in the intention to treat population (0.90, 0.77 to 1.05; P=0.18 for superiority; τ
2
=0.00). The treatment effect was consistent across all subgroups, except for sex (P for interaction=0.02), suggesting that P2Y
12
inhibitor monotherapy lowers the risk of the primary ischaemic endpoint in women (hazard ratio 0.64, 0.46 to 0.89) but not in men (1.00, 0.83 to 1.19). The risk of bleeding was lower with P2Y
12
inhibitor monotherapy than with DAPT (97 (0.89%)
v
197 (1.83%); hazard ratio 0.49, 0.39 to 0.63; P<0.001; τ
2
=0.03), which was consistent across subgroups, except for type of P2Y
12
inhibitor (P for interaction=0.02), suggesting greater benefit when a newer P2Y
12
inhibitor rather than clopidogrel was part of the DAPT regimen.
Conclusions
P2Y
12
inhibitor monotherapy was associated with a similar risk of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, with evidence that this association may be modified by sex, and a lower bleeding risk compared with DAPT.
Registration
PROSPERO CRD42020176853.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.