IMR Press / RCM / Volume 6 / Issue S2 / pii/1561344107136-1813874101

Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine (RCM) is published by IMR Press from Volume 19 Issue 1 (2018). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with MedReviews, LLC.

Open Access Review
Implications of Heart Failure Drug Trials: COMET, CHARM, EPHESUS
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1 Department of Emergency Medicine, Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
2020 Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2005, 6(S2), 4–11;
Published: 20 February 2005
Abstract
Activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone and adrenergic nervous systems plays a major role in the progression of heart failure, and inhibitors and antagonists of these neurohormonal systems improve outcomes. β-Blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and aldosterone antagonists have been shown to improve parameters such as ventricular remodeling, ejection fraction, and renal function and to reduce rates of morbidity and mortality. This article reviews 3 recent clinical trials that have added to our knowledge of the use of these agents. Two of the studies—EPHESUS and COMET— demonstrated significant reduction in all-cause mortality, whereas the third—CHARM— showed a marginal reduction. These trials established that it is feasible to design and execute heart failure studies of sufficient scale to assess improvement in rates of mortality and morbidity.
Keywords
Aldosterone antagonists
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors
β-Blockers
Ejection fraction
Heart failure
Myocardial infarction
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