Heart failure therapies lower death risk

LOS ANGELES, April 5 (UPI) -- Adherence to guideline-recommended outpatient therapies for heart failure significantly lowered the death rate of these patients, U.S. researchers found.

First author Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow of the University of California, Los Angeles, and director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and colleagues examined data on 15,177 heart failure patients seen at 167 U.S. cardiology practice clinics.

Researchers reviewed the patient medical records at the beginning of the heart failure treatment program and at 12 and 24 months. The assessment include:

-- Three types of heart failure medications -- beta blockers, aldosterone antagonists and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers.

-- The use of cardiac resynchronization therapy, a device that helps coordinate heart contractions.

-- Anti-coagulant therapy for atrial fibrillation, to prevent clot formation in patients with an irregular heartbeat.

-- The use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator devices to deliver electrical shocks if potentially fatal heart rhythm abnormalities occur.

-- Heart-failure patient education.

The study, published in the journal Circulation, found patients who received all the therapies for which they were eligible had 38 percent lower odds of mortality, compared with patients who did not receive one or more of the therapies for which they were qualified.