CLINICAL RESEARCH: ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
Antiarrhythmic effect of carvedilol after acute myocardial infarction
Results of the Carvedilol Post-Infarct Survival Control in Left Ventricular Dysfunction (CAPRICORN) trial
John McMurray, MD*,*,
Lars Køber, MD ,
Michele Robertson, BSc ,
Henry Dargie, MB, ChB*,
Wilson Colucci, MD ,
Jose Lopez-Sendon, MD||,
Willem Remme, MD¶,
D. Norman Sharpe, MD# and
Ian Ford, PhD
* Department of Cardiology, Western Infirmary, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Department of Cardiology, Gentoffe University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, University of Glasgow; Glasgow, United Kingdom
Boston University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
|| Department of Cardiology, Hospital University, Madrid, Spain
¶ Sticares Foundation, Rhoon, the Netherlands
# Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Manuscript received June 2, 2003;
revised manuscript received August 26, 2004,
accepted September 2, 2004.
* Reprint requests and correspondence: Prof. John J. V. McMurray, Department of Cardiology, Western Infirmary, Glasgow, G11 6NT, United Kingdom (Email: j.mcmurray{at}bio.gla.ac.uk).
OBJECTIVES: Whether beta-blockers reduce atrial arrhythmias and, when added to an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, ventricular arrhythmia is unknown.
BACKGROUND: Ventricular and atrial arrhythmias are common after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and are associated with a poor prognosis. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors reduce the incidence of both types of arrhythmia.
METHODS: The antiarrhythmic effect of carvedilol was examined in a placebo-controlled multicenter trial, the Carvedilol Post-Infarct Survival Control in Left Ventricular Dysfunction (CAPRICORN) study, which enrolled 1,959 patients with reduced left ventricular systolic function after AMI, 98% of whom were treated with an ACE inhibitor.
RESULTS: The incidence of atrial fibrillation/flutter was 53 to 984 (5.4%) in the placebo group and 22 to 975 (2.3%) in the carvedilol group, giving a carvedilol/placebo hazard ratio (HR) of 0.41 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25 to 0.68; p = 0.0003). The corresponding rates of ventricular tachycardia/flutter/fibrillation were 38 to 984 (3.9%) and 9 to 975 (0.9%) (HR 0.24, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.49; p < 0.0001).
CONCLUSIONS: Carvedilol has a powerful antiarrhythmic effect after AMI, even in patients already treated with an ACE inhibitor. Carvedilol suppresses atrial as well as ventricular arrhythmias in these patients.
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
| | ACE = angiotensin-converting enzyme | | AE = adverse event | | AF = atrial fibrillation | | CAPRICORN = Carvedilol Post-Infarct Survival Control in Left Ventricular Dysfunction trial | | CI = confidence interval | | DIAMOND-MI = Danish Investigations of Arrhythmia and Mortality on Dofetilide-Myocardial Infarction study | | HR = hazard ratio | | MI = myocardial infarction | | SAE = serious adverse event | | TRACE = Trandolapril Cardiac Evaluation study |
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