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OBJECTIVES: This study examined the trends in the relative contributions of cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality to total mortality according to use of beta-blockers in clinical trials of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HF-REF). BACKGROUND: With the increasingly widespread use of disease-modifying therapies, particularly beta-blockers, in HF-REF, the proportion of patients dying from cardiovascular causes is likely to be decreasing. METHODS: In a systematic review, 2 investigators independently searched online databases to identify clinical trials including >400 patients with chronic heart failure published between 1986 and 2014 and that adjudicated cause of death. Trials were divided into 3 groups on the basis of the proportion of patients treated with a beta-blocker (<33% [low], 33% to 66% [medium], and >66% [high]). Percentages of total deaths adjudicated as cardiovascular or noncardiovascular were calculated by weighted means and weighted standard deviations. Weighted Student t tests were used to compare results between groups. RESULTS: Sixty-six trials met the inclusion criteria with a total of 136,182 patients and 32,140 deaths. There was a sequential increase in the percentage of noncardiovascular deaths with increasing beta-blocker use from 11.4% of all deaths in trials with low beta-blocker use to 19.1% in those with high beta-blocker use (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In trials of patients with HF-REF, the proportion of deaths adjudicated as cardiovascular has decreased. Cardiovascular mortality, and not all-cause mortality, should be used as an endpoint for trials of new treatments for HF-REF.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.jchf.2015.03.013

Type

Journal article

Journal

JACC Heart Fail

Publication Date

08/2015

Volume

3

Pages

603 - 614

Keywords

beta-blocker, cause of death, heart failure, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, mode of death, Adrenergic beta-Antagonists, Cardiac Output, Low, Cause of Death, Forecasting, Heart Failure, Humans, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Survival Analysis