Risk-factor profile, drug usage and cardiovascular events within a year in patients with and at high risk of atherothrombosis recruited from Asia as compared with those recruited from non-Asian regions: a substudy of the REduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) registry

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the differences in the baseline characteristics, prevalence and incidence of atherothrombosis in patients recruited from Asia versus non-Asian regions. DESIGN: International Prospective Cohort Study. SETTING: Region focused substudy. PATIENTS: The Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) Registry recruited 68 236 stable outpatients with established atherothrombosis or ≥3 atherothrombotic risk factors from 44 countries. INTERVENTIONS: No intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Risk factors, use of medications, vascular disease bed location, and 1-year cardiovascular (CV) outcomes (CV death, myocardial infarction, stroke). RESULTS: The percentages of patients recruited with CVD (Cerebrovascular Disease) were higher in Asia (41.0%) than in non-Asian regions (25.1%) (p<0.0001). The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was higher in Asia (46.6%) than in non-Asian regions (43.3%) (p<0.0001) despite the former having a lower body mass index (BMI) (24.4±3.9 vs 28.8±5.6) (p<0.0001). The combined endpoint of CV death/myocardial infarction/stroke of patients recruited from non-Asian regions of 4.38% (95% CI 4.20 to 4.56) is equivalent to those from the Asian region excluding Japan of 4.65% (95% CI 4.04 to 5.25), but that is significantly lower in patients recruited from Japan of 3.40% (95% CI 2.76 to 4.04, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There is a higher prevalence of CVD and higher prevalence of diabetus mellitus with lower body mass index in patients recruited from the Asian region as compared those recruited from non-Asian regions. The CV event rate in patients recruited from non-Asian regions is equivalent to that of patients recruited from the Asian region excluding Japan, but significantly lower in patients recruited from Japan.