Development and Validation of Prognostic Models for Bleeding and Ischemia in Elderly Patients With Comorbid Acute

Honghong Zhang1,2, Li Zheng1,3, Zengao Yang1,4

  • 1Department of Cardiology, The Sixth Medical Centre Chinese PLA General Hospital Beijing China.

Insights

New prognostic models predict bleeding and ischemia in elderly patients with acute coronary syndrome and atrial fibrillation. These tools aid clinical decisions for high-risk cardiovascular patients.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Geriatrics
  • Clinical Research

Background:

  • Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and atrial fibrillation (AF) are prevalent in elderly individuals.
  • Comorbidities in this population increase risks of bleeding and ischemia.
  • A need exists for prognostic models to quantify these risks in elderly ACS and AF patients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate prognostic models for predicting bleeding and thromboembolic events.
  • To provide tools for individualized risk assessment in elderly patients with ACS and AF.
  • To improve clinical decision-making for managing bleeding and ischemic risks.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective cohort study including 1851 elderly patients (≥65 years) with ACS and AF.
  • Development cohort (1252 patients) and two external validation cohorts (284 and 315 patients).
  • 1-year follow-up to observe bleeding (BARC 3 or 5) and thromboembolic events; model performance assessed using concordance index, calibration, and decision curve analysis.

Main Results:

  • The developed models demonstrated good predictive performance with concordance indexes for bleeding ranging from 0.737 to 0.845 and for ischemia from 0.723 to 0.777 in the development cohort.
  • Validation cohorts showed comparable performance (concordance indexes 0.679–0.809).
  • Models outperformed conventional methods and showed adequate calibration and clinical utility, with significant Kaplan-Meier differences (log-rank P<0.001).

Conclusions:

  • Two robust prognostic models were developed using easily accessible clinical factors.
  • These models effectively predict bleeding and ischemia in elderly patients with ACS and AF.
  • Online calculators are available to support individualized risk evaluation and clinical decision-making.
Abstract