Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible for inclusion.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies that compared the use of PES with BMS were eligible for inclusion. Studies were excluded if both treatment groups received PES, if sirolimus was used, where paclitaxel was given orally, or where other analogues of paclitaxel were used. Both polymer and non-polymer stents were used in the included studies. In some studies, aspirin, clopidogrel, cilostazol, ticlopidine or glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors were also administered.
Participants included in the review
Studies on people with coronary artery disease, undergoing stent implantation, were eligible for inclusion. In the included studies, the median age of the participants ranged from 58 to 66 years and between 62% and 94% were men. Where given, between 23% and 54% were current smokers, 10% to 31% were diabetic, and 26% to 43% had had a previous myocardial infarction. Details of the coronary lesions were given in the paper.
Outcomes assessed in the review
To be included, the studies had to assess thrombosis using angiographic data for at least 30 days' follow-up. The primary outcome of interest was stent thrombosis. This was defined as either angiographically documented thrombosis or, where angiographic data were unavailable, an event in which the study investigators clinically presumed that thrombosis had occurred. Any identified stent-associated thrombosis, occurring up to one year of follow-up, was included in the outcome data. The duration of follow-up ranged from 6 to 12 months in the included studies.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.