Early nurse-assessed intrinsic capacity stratifies rehospitalization risk after percutaneous coronary intervention in coronary artery disease patients

Background: Intrinsic capacity (IC) has shown potential in predicting health outcomes in older adults. However, its prognostic value in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been established. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, patients with CAD undergoing PCI were included. IC score was assessed within 48 h of admission using a structured nurse-administered questionnaire. The primary outcome was all-cause rehospitalization. Secondary outcomes included cardiovascular rehospitalization and non-cardiovascular rehospitalization. Kaplan-Meier analysis, Cox proportional hazards models, and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were used to estimate the relation between IC score and rehospitalization. Subgroup analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess predictive performance. Results: A higher IC score, indicating poorer IC, was independently associated with increased all-cause rehospitalization risk (HR = 3.07 for IC = 4 compared with IC = 0, 95% CI 1.89-5.00) and cardiovascular rehospitalization risk (HR = 5.23 for IC = 4 compared with IC = 0, 95% CI 2.30-11.89). Subgroup analyses showed that this relationship remained consistent across lesion morphologies and revascularization strategies. In contrast, IC score was not a significant predictor of non-cardiovascular rehospitalization. RCS curves showed the linear positive relationship between IC score and HR of cardiac rehospitalization with the cutoff of 2.5. ROC curve for all-cause rehospitalization showed IC score with the AUC of 0.692 (95% CI: 0.664-0.729). Conclusion: IC score is an accessible, independent, and robust predictor of cardiovascular rehospitalization after PCI in CAD patients.