These Israeli researchers sought to determine whether the socioeconomic status of a community influences the characteristics and outcome of patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), using data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, which assigns a socioeconomic index (SI) to communities based on demographic, economic and educational parameters. The SI was determined for 1397 patients who underwent PCI between April 2004 and October 2006; patients were divided into low, intermediate or high SI. Compared with an intermediate or high SI, a low SI community socioeconomic level was associated with a significantly younger age, significantly higher rates of diabetes and of smoking, a significantly lower rate of drug-eluting stent implantation, lower adherence to aspirin and clopidogrel therapy, a significantly higher rate of repeat revascularisation and a higher rate of recurrent myocardial infarction. A lower SI was an independent predictor of major adverse cardiac events during follow-up (HR, 1.52).
