Platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor antagonists and their use in elderly patients

With increasing age of the general population, cardiovascular diseases are becoming a greater health burden. Coronary artery disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Among the various pathophysiological processes, platelets play a pre-eminent role. With the identification of the glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor as the final common pathway for platelet aggregation, potent antiplatelet agents have been developed. These GP IIb/IIIa antagonists have been shown to be effective in improving outcomes among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions and for the treatment of acute coronary syndromes. By pooling the results of several large-scale trials, these benefits have been found to extend to the elderly population. Among 7860 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, the occurrence of death or myocardial infarction at 30 days was reduced from 10.0 to 5.9% (odds ratio 0.56; 95% confidence level, 0.37 to 0.83) with abciximab compared with placebo, in those >70 years of age. Importantly, this benefit was achieved without an increase in major bleeding complications. Similarly favourable trends were also observed among elderly patients treated with tirofiban or eptifibatide for acute coronary syndromes. As such, GP IIb/IIIa antagonists are effective in preventing ischaemic complications and can be safely administered to elderly patients.