Association between baseline platelet count and severe adverse outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention.

Objective The aim is to evaluate the association between baseline platelet count (PC) and severe adverse outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in current real-world practice. Methods A total of 18,788 patients underwent PCI with drug-eluting stents constituted the study population. Patients were categorized as having low (< 150 × 1000/µL), normal (150–300 × 1000/µL), and high (≥ 300 × 1000/µL) baseline PC. The primary endpoints included in-hospital and follow-up all-cause mortality. The secondary endpoint was major bleeding requiring a blood transfusion. Results In-hospital mortality rates for patients with low, normal, and high baseline PC were 0.6%, 0.4%, and 0.4%, respectively (P = 0.259). Similarly, mortality rates during long-term follow-up (median 23.8 months) for patients with low, normal, and high baseline PC were 0.9%, 0.6%, and 0.7%, respectively (P = 0.079). After multivariate adjustment, patients with low or high baseline PC tended to have similar risks for both in-hospital and follow-up mortality compared with the normal group. Subgroup analyses failed to demonstrate an independent prognostic value of baseline PC in specific population groups except patients who undwent transfemoral PCI. There was also no significant difference in the incidence of major bleeding requiring a blood transfusion in the low, normal, and high groups (0.5%, 0.3%, and 0.3%, respectively; P = 0.320). After multivariate adjustment, low or high baseline PC did not significantly increase the risk of major bleeding. Conclusion There is no significant association between baseline PC and severe adverse outcomes following PCI in current real-world practice.