Stroke and MACCE
For the SAC group, 1 patient (0,9 %) experienced recurrent myocardial angina during follow-up, five patients (4.9 %) showed acute myocardial infarction and only 1 patient (0.9%) had stroke. Freedom from MACCE defined as myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiac death, was 100%, 100%, 95% and 42% at 1,5,10 and 14 years respectively (Fig.1B).
For the DAC group, 4 patients (3,4%) experienced recurrent myocardial angina and 2 patients (2%) showed acute myocardial infarction, no patient experienced stroke at follow up. Freedom from MACCE defined as myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiac death, was 100%, 100%, 98% and 82% at 1,5, 10 and 14 years respectively (Fig.1B). The difference between SAC and DAC is statistically significant (p value = 0.02). The two groups have similar incidence of MACCE in the first 10 years (fig 1.C) (p value = 0.2465), on the other hand, after 10 years, the two curves diverge and become significantly different (fig.1.D) (p value = 0.043).
Therefore, at the chi-squared analysis, after normalizing for presence of diabetes and peripheral arterial diseases, being part of the SAC group was a risk factor for having MACCE at follow up (p value= 0.035, HR 5,46 95% CI 1.14 – 26.1).