Background: Studies have shown that cigarette smokers constitute a substantial proportion of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and have platelet-rich coronary thrombi. We characterized the influence of smoking status on outcome of patients with ACS without persistent ST-segment elevation and tested the hypothesis that selective inhibition of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor with eptifibatide would improve outcomes among cigarette smokers.
Methods: The study population included patients enrolled in the PURSUIT trial (Platelet Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa in Unstable Angina: Receptor Suppression Using Integrilin Therapy) with known smoking status presenting with ischemic chest pain </=24 hours and having either ischemic electrocardiographic changes without persistent ST-segment elevation or elevated creatine kinase MB levels. Patients were randomly assigned to receive a bolus and infusion of either eptifibatide or placebo in addition to standard therapy. The primary end point was a composite of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction within 30 days.
Results: Of the 9406 patients with known smoking status, 2677 were current smokers, 3086 were former smokers, and 3643 were nonsmokers. Cigarette smokers had better 30-day outcomes (12.3%, 16.8%, and 15.4% for smokers, former smokers, and nonsmokers, respectively; P =.001). However, after adjusting for differences in baseline clinical variables, smoking status was not a predictor of 30-day outcome (P =.45). There was a reduction in the composite end point overall with eptifibatide compared with placebo (14.3% vs 15. 7%, P =.054) but no interaction between smoking status and treatment strategy (P =.68).
Conclusions: Among patients with ACS without persistent ST-segment elevation, cigarette smokers had better short-term outcomes because of their more favorable clinical profile. Although prior studies have suggested that smokers more commonly have platelet-rich thrombi than nonsmokers, eptifibatide did not result in more improvement in their outcome compared with former smokers or nonsmokers.