Drug-coated stents increase the risk of blood clots in African Americans

African Americans who receive drug-coated stents have triple the risk of having a blood clot compared with other racial groups, researchers reported Monday.

Stents are used to open blocked coronary arteries. Drug-coated stents release medication that can prevent the artery from becoming blocked again. Blood clots are a known risk of the procedure, although the probability of a clot is relatively low. However, a study of more than 7,000 patients found the rate of a life-threatening blood clot is much higher in blacks. One month after the stent insertion, the clotting risk was 1.71% in blacks compared with .59% in other racial groups. Three years after surgery, blacks had a clotting rate of 3.67% compared with 1.25% in other groups.

The risk of death from all causes at three years was also higher among blacks: 24.9% compared with 13.1%. The higher risk among blacks was found even after the researchers controlled for other risk factors, such as diabetes, hypertension and kidney problems.

Additional studies are needed to determine what should be done to reduce the blood-clot risk in blacks. The study was released Monday in Circulation: The Journal of the American Heart Assn.

-- Shari Roan / Los Angeles Times

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