The four-item PRECISE-DAPT score identifies coronary artery bypass grafting patients with increased risk for post-discharge major bleeding

Early identification of patients with increased bleeding risk increases the possibility to individualize antithrombotic treatment. We validated the PRECISE-DAPT score, originally developed to estimate bleeding risk in patients on dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients.

All patients who underwent the first time, isolated CABG in Sweden 2009–2020 and survived until discharge were included. The four-item PRECISE-DAPT score, based on age, estimated glomerular filtration rate, pre-operative haemoglobin concentration, and previous spontaneous bleeding, was calculated in patients discharged on DAPT (n = 6838), or antiplatelet monotherapy (n = 15 406). High bleeding risk was defined as a score ≥25 in accordance with previous studies and major bleeding as hospitalization due to bleeding. Associations were assessed by C-statistics and Cox regression models.

 Major bleeding occurred during the first post-operative year in 130 patients (1.9%) in the DAPT group, and in 197 patients (1.3%) in the monotherapy group. The score identified 32.9% of the patients in the DAPT group and 38.2% in the monotherapy groups as having high bleeding risk. The area under the ROC-curve for the score was 0.67 (95%CI 0.62–0.72) for DAPT and 0.71 (0.67–0.74) for monotherapy. The hazard ratio for high bleeding risk vs. very low risk was 4.14 (2.07–8.26) for DAPT patients, and 4.95 (2.61–9.39) for monotherapy patients, both P < 0.001.

The PRECISE-DAPT identifies patients with increased risk for major bleeding after discharge following CABG with moderate accuracy. The accuracy is comparable to what previously has been reported for patients after PCI.