Background: In the GLOBAL LEADERS trial, ticagrelor monotherapy beyond 1 month compared with standard antiplatelet regimens after coronary stent implantation did not improve outcomes at intention-to-treat analysis. Considerable differences in treatment adherence between the experimental and control groups may have affected the intention-to-treat results. In this reanalysis of the GLOBAL LEADERS trial, we compared the experimental and control treatment strategies in a per-protocol analysis of patients who did not deviate from the study protocol.

Methods and results: Baseline and postrandomization information were used to classify whether and when patients were deviating from the study protocol. With logistic regressions, we derived time-varying inverse probabilities of nondeviation from protocol to reconstruct the trial population without protocol deviation. The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause mortality or nonfatal Q-wave myocardial infarction at 2 years. At 2-year follow-up, 1.103 (13.8%) of 7.980 patients in the experimental group and 785 (9.8%) of 7.988 patients in the control group qualified as protocol deviators. At per-protocol analysis, the rate ratio for the primary endpoint was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.75-1.03; p=0.10) on the basis of 274 versus 325 events in the experimental versus control group. The rate ratio for the key safety endpoint of major bleeding was 1.00 (95% CI, 0.79-1.26; p=0.99). The per-protocol and intention-to-treat effect estimates were overall consistent.

Conclusions: Among patients who complied with the study protocol in the GLOBAL LEADERS trial, ticagrelor plus ASA for 1 month followed by ticagrelor monotherapy was not superior to 1-year standard dual antiplatelet therapy followed by ASA alone at 2 years after coronary stenting.