Patients with heart failure who were prescribed carvedilol at discharge had better survival rates at 60-90 days than patients who were eligible but were not prescribed a beta-blocker, according to an analysis of data from the US heart failure registry OPTIMIZE-HF, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

OPTIMIZE-HF, funded by the drug’s manufacturer, is the only hospital-based heart failure registry with 60-90 day follow-up data on this patient population in the USA.

Data were collected at 60 to 90 days following hospital discharge on patients with heart failure to measure the associations with clinical outcomes in eligible patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction who received carvedilol prior to hospital discharge versus patients who were eligible but who received no beta-blocker at discharge.

Of the 720 patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction, 2,373 (87.2%) were eligible to receive a beta-blocker at discharge. Carvedilol was prescribed at discharge for 1,146 patients, 94.2 percent of whom remained on therapy for the duration of the follow-up period.

Data analysis showed that patients prescribed carvedilol at discharge had a significantly decreased risk for death and for rehospitalization or death, a sign that the drug had improved the early post-discharge risk for recurrent heart failure.

"This analysis adds to the evidence supporting the benefits and tolerability of prescribing carvedilol at hospital discharge for patients admitted with heart failure," said Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, chairman of the OPTIMIZE-HF Committee and director of Ahmanson - UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center in Los Angeles. "Based on this analysis and earlier studies, carvedilol should be started when medically advisable at the time of hospital discharge in all eligible heart failure patients since the difference in survival and re-hospitalizations emerges in just weeks among patients who receive carvedilol as opposed to those who don't have a beta-blocker added to their treatment regimen."

The registry was launched in 2003 as an improvement in care program to analyze patient outcomes based on evidence-based, guideline-driven patient management. Carvedilol is currently the only beta-blocker approved in the US for patients who had a myocardial infarction resulting in left ventricular dysfunction. Carvedilol is also approved to increase survival in patients with mild-to-severe heart failure.