Comparison of outcomes using bare metal versus drug-eluting stents in coronary artery disease patients with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention have a substantial risk of subsequent cardiovascular events. However, outcome data from HIV-infected patients who receive drug-eluting stents (DESs) are limited. We hypothesized that HIV-infected patients treated with DESs would have fewer recurrent cardiac events compared with those who receive bare metal stents (BMSs). We evaluated 97 HIV-infected patients and 97 non-HIV control patients who had undergone percutaneous coronary intervention between January 2000 and July 2007. Clinical, laboratory, and angiographic data were obtained by chart review. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), defined as clinically driven coronary revascularization, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death, were adjudicated by 2 independent physicians. The mean age of the HIV cohort was 53 years, and all patients were men. Compared with non-HIV patients, HIV-infected patients were less likely to have hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and previous coronary artery disease and were more likely to have been treated with longer stent length and more stents. During a mean follow-up of 3.1 years, patients who received a DES had a lower rate of MACE compared with those who had received a BMS, regardless of HIV status. After multivariate adjustment for baseline characteristic differences, non-HIV-DES patients had 65% fewer MACE and HIV-DES patients had 60% fewer MACE compared with non-HIV-BMS patients. In conclusion, these data suggest that treatment with DESs in the HIV population is safe and efficacious.