title: Pharmacotherapy of congestive heart failure in elderly patients.
abstract: With longer life expectancy, as well as better survival rates after myocardial infarction, the population of elderly patients with congestive heart failure steadily increases. Large, randomized, placebo-controlled studies have shown significant beneficial effects for several classes of drugs (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, beta-blockers, aldosterone antagonists) in patients with congestive heart failure. In most of these studies, however, elderly patients were either excluded or represented only a minority of the study population. Therefore, the treatment benefit for the large population of patients aged 65 and older is still not very well documented. In this paper, we critically review the current literature with regard to outcome of heart failure therapy in this particular subpopulation.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Cardiology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: Hanspeter
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brunner-La Rocca
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004347:Drug Interactions; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D002317:Cardiovascular Agents