Importance of the Postdischarge Interval in Assessing Major Adverse Clinical Event Rates Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

In-hospital major adverse clinical event (MACE) rates after percutaneous coronary intervention serve as benchmarks of performance. However, accelerated clinical pathways, decreased lengths of stay, and potential delayed effects of percutaneous coronary intervention may result in an underestimation of this traditional measurement of outcome. Records from patients in the first 3 waves of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Dynamic Registry (n = 6,676) were reviewed for rates of composite in-hospital MACEs (death, myocardial infarction, and any repeat target vessel revascularization) and postdischarge MACEs (death, myocardial infarction, repeat hospitalization, and repeat target vessel revascularization) through 30 days. Rates for each composite MACE were compared across waves to assess changes over time. Predictors of each MACE category were identified using multivariate analysis. In-hospital MACE decreased significantly (5.4% of wave 1, 4.9% of wave 2, 3.1% of wave 3, p