TITLE:
Discharge heart rate and future events among Japanese patients with acute heart failure receiving beta-blocker therapy
AUTHORS:
Kazuki Oshima, Shun Kohsaka, Kimi Koide, Yuji Nagatomo, Toshiyuki Nagai, Yutaka Endo, Tsutomu Yoshikawa, Keiichi Fukuda
KEYWORDS:
Heart Failure; Beta-Blocker; Heart Rate; Pharmaceutical Preparations
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases,
Vol.3 No.1A,
March
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: Background: Randomized trials have demonstrated the efficacy of beta-blockers (BBs) in heart failure (HF) patients. We sought to assess the impact of BBs on long-term outcome; in particular, we assessed the association between outcome and BB dose and discharge heart rate. Methods and Results: Prescriptions for dispensed medication and outcomes were identified from a prospective, single-institution HF registry. Long-term prognosis was compared between users and non-users of BBs. BB users were further divided into 2 groups based on dose (full and non-full dose) and discharge heart rate (70 bpm was significantly associated with impaired long-term outcome (HR = 1.872, P = 0.04). Conclusions: Optimizing heart rate, rather than maximizing BB dose, appears to be an appropriate treatment strategy for the beta-sensitive Japanese population.