title: Is there a role for digitalis in chronic heart failure?--First update.
abstract: This Living FRISBEE (Living FRIendly Summary of the Body of Evidence using Epistemonikos) is an update of the summary published in April 2015, based on a new systematic review published in May 2015. The main clinical guidelines recommend the use of digitalis for chronic heart failure when moderate to severe symptoms persist after standard therapy, even though there is controversy about its efficacy and security. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening 30 databases, we identified four systematic reviews including 13 randomized trials. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table following the GRADE approach. We concluded the use of digitalis for chronic heart failure probably leads to little or no decrease in mortality, but they might reduce hospitalizations and clinical deterioration. However, the certainty of the evidence is low.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Salud Basada en Evidencia, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Address: Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Lira 63, Santiago Centro, Chile. Email: radagabriel@epistemonikos.org.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rain
authors.affiliation: Programa de Salud Basada en Evidencia, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Departamento de Medicina Interna, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; GRADE working group; The Cochrane Collaboration; Fundación Epistemonikos.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rada
mesh_terms: D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004071:Digitalis Glycosides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D004071:Digitalis Glycosides