Coronary stenting in diabetics: six months clinical and angiographic outcome

The aim of this study was to assess the clinical and angiographic outcome of coronary stenting in diabetics as compared to non-diabetic patients. A total of 114 patients undergoing coronary angioplasty with stenting were prospectively evaluated. There were 30 diabetic (group A) and 84 non-diabetic (group B) patients. There were no significant differences in both the groups with respect to other risk factors and clinical characteristics. Both the groups were also comparable in terms of lesion morphology and stent types. The clinical endpoints were recurrent angina, reinfarction, cardiac death and need for target vessel revascularisation. The angiographic endpoint was angiographic restenosis at six months. There were 70 males and 44 female patients with a mean age of 55 +/- 12 years. Angiographic follow-up was completed in 85 (74.7%) patients which included 25 (83.3%) patients in group A and 60 (71.4%) in group B. Among clinical events at 30 days, the incidence of recurrent angina was 10.0 percent versus 8.3 percent (group A and B; p = NS) and incidence of reinfarction was 6.6 percent versus 5.9 percent (group A and B; p = NS), respectively. At six months, recurrent angina was seen in 16.6 percent versus 15.4 percent (p = NS) and reinfarction was seen in 10.0 percent versus 8.3 percent (p = NS) in group A and B, respectively. There were no deaths in either group. The angiographic restenosis rate was significantly higher in diabetics compared to non-diabetics (40.0% vs 23.3%; p = 0.02). The need for target vessel revascularisation was higher in diabetics as compared to non-diabetics (16.0% vs 6.6%; p = 0.03). We conclude that in spite of using coronary stents, the diabetics have higher restenosis rate and higher target vessel revascularisation rate than the non-diabetic patients.