Impact of chronic kidney disease on platelet reactivity and outcomes of patients receiving clopidogrel and undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

The impact of chronic kidney disease (CKD) on residual platelet reactivity (PR) in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is still debatable. We sought to investigate the interaction between PR and renal function and the related clinical outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease treated with PCI. Immediately before PCI, we measured PR (as P2Y12 reaction units [PRUs]) in 800 patients on clopidogrel with the VerifyNow P2Y12 assay. High PR was defined as a PRU value of ≥240 and low PR as a PRU value of ≤178. Based on a glomerular filtration rate of < or ≥60 ml/min/1.73 m², patients were respectively grouped into those with or without moderate-to-severe CKD. Primary end point was the incidence of 30-day net adverse clinical events (NACEs). Patients with moderate-to-severe CKD (n = 173, 21.6%) and those without showed similarPRUvalues (208 ± 67 vs 207 ± 75, p = 0.819). Yet, NACEs were significantly higher in patients with moderate-to-severe CKD (19.7% vs 9.1%, p <0.001), in terms of both ischemic (12.1% vs 7.2%, p = 0.036) and bleeding events (8.7% vs 2.1%, p <0.001). NACEs were significantly higher when moderate-to-severe CKD was associated with either high PR or low PR (25.4%, p for trend <0.001); this association was the strongest predictor of NACE at multivariate analysis (odds ratio 3.4, 95% confidence interval 2.0 to 5.6, p <0.001). In conclusion, we did not find an association between moderate-to-severe CKD and residual PR on clopidogrel. However, the association of moderate-to-severe CKD with either high or low PR was a strong determinant of adverse events after PCI.