title: Discharge use of angiotensin receptor blockers provides comparable effects with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on outcomes in patients hospitalized for heart failure.
abstract: Large-scale, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trials have shown that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) reduce mortality and hospitalization in patients with heart failure (HF) caused by left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD). However, it is unknown whether ACE inhibitors and ARBs have similar effects on the long-term outcomes in HF patients encountered in routine clinical practice. The Japanese Cardiac Registry of Heart Failure in Cardiology enrolled HF patients hospitalized with worsening symptoms and they were followed during an average of 2.2 years. The outcome data were compared in patients with LVSD by echocardiography (ejection fraction, EF <40%) according to the predischarge use of ACE inhibitors (n=356) or ARBs (n=372). The clinical characteristics were similar between patients with ACE inhibitor and ARB use, except for higher prevalence of hypertensive etiology and diabetes mellitus. There was no significant difference between ACE inhibitor and ARB use in all-cause death (adjusted hazard ratio 0.958, 95% confidence interval 0.601-1.527, P=0.858) and rehospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio 0.964, 95% confidence interval 0.683-1.362, P=0.836). The effects of ACE inhibitor and ARB use on the outcomes were generally consistent across all clinically relevant subgroups examined, including age, sex, etiology, EF, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and beta-blocker use. Discharge use of ARBs provided comparable effects with ACE inhibitors on outcomes in patients hospitalized for HF. These findings provide further support for guideline recommendations that ARBs can be used in patients with HF and LVSD as an alternative of ACE inhibitors.
authors: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan.
authors: Miyuki
authors: M
authors: Tsuchihashi-Makaya
authors: Tomoo
authors: T
authors: Furumoto
authors: Shintaro
authors: S
authors: Kinugawa
authors: Sanae
authors: S
authors: Hamaguchi
authors: Kazutomo
authors: K
authors: Goto
authors: Daisuke
authors: D
authors: Goto
authors: Satoshi
authors: S
authors: Yamada
authors: Hisashi
authors: H
authors: Yokoshiki
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Takeshita
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Tsutsui
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D047228:Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D047228:Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors