Comparison of treatment outcomes of ticagrelor and clopidogrel among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: A meta-analysis

We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to investigate the efficacy and safety of ticagrelor (TIC) vs. clopidogrel (CLO) in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In Jun 2016, a literature search was started and all the studies were conducted from 2010 to 2015. We systematically searched the literature through the MEDLINE database, Cochrane library, and EMBASE database. Quality assessments were evaluated with Jadad quality scale. Data were extracted considering the characteristics of efficacy and safety designs. Six RCTs enrolling 26 244 participants and satisfying the inclusion criteria were finally analyzed. There was a significant decrease of all-cause mortality (MD=0.83, 95%CI=0.74–0.93, P=0.001) and myocardial infarction (MI) (MD=0.78, 95%CI=0.70–0.88, P=0.000). There were no significant differences in stroke (MD=1.34, 95%CI=0.99–1.79, P=0.06), total bleeding (MD=0.97, 95%CI=0.84–1.12, P=0.66), minor or major bleeding (MD=1.06, 95%CI=0.94–1.19, P=0.35) in patients undergoing PCI after treatment with TIC vs. CLO. TIC could be more significant in decreasing all-cause mortality and MI than CLO, but there were no significant differences between TIC and CLO in inhibiting stroke, major bleeding, major or minor bleeding in patients undergoing PCI.