Double product reflects the association of heart rate with MACEs in acute coronary syndrome patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention

BACKGROUND: There is little information about the prognostic value of double product (DP) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The aim of this study was to investigate whether DP reflects the predictive power of heart rate (HR) or systolic blood pressure (SBP) in ACS patients treated with PCI. METHODS: A total of 7590 ACS patients who had undergone PCI, free from cardiac shock, were included. The follow-up duration was two years. The main adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) included all-cause death, recurrent myocardial infarction and stroke. RESULTS: In the unadjusted model, significantly higher rates of MACEs were recorded in the high DP group (relative risk 1.41, 95%CI 1.08 to 1.83, p = 0.012). However, in the full adjusted models, after including HR and SBP, the predictive value of DP was not significant (relative risk 0.86, 95%CI 0.55 to1.33, p = 0.499). The predictive value of HR for MACEs was statistically significant (relative risk 1.74, 95% CI 1.33–2.28, p < 0.001). It was worth noting that the history of hypertension was strongly associated with MACEs (relative risk 1.53, 95% CI 1.11–2.11, p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: High DP is associated with MACEs for ACS patients treated with PCI. However, the predictive value of DP weakened when adjusted for HR. Therefore, we have shown that DP may reflect the predictive power of HR for ACS patients treated with PCI. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12872-017-0714-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.