Digitalis Investigation Group
Objectives:
To determine the effect of increasing age on
mortality, hospitalizations, and digoxin side effects in patients with heart
failure (HF), and to determine whether the effect of digoxin on clinical
outcomes varies as a function of age.
Background:
The incidence and prevalence of HF increase with
advancing age, but there are limited data on the clinical course and response
to specific interventions in elderly patients with HF.
Subjects:
A total of 302 centers in the United States and Canada
enrolled 7,788 patients between February 1991 and September 1993.
Design:
The Digitalis Investigation Group (DIG) study was a
prospective, randomized clinical trial involving 7,788 patients with HF
randomized to digoxin or placebo and followed for an average of 37 months.
Interactions between age and the following clinical outcomes were examined:
total mortality, all-cause hospitalizations, HF hospitalizations, the composite
of HF death or HF hospitalizations, hospitalization for suspected digoxin
toxicity and withdrawal from therapy because of side effects.
Conclusions:
Increasing age is associated with progressively worse
clinical outcomes in patients with HF. However, the beneficial effects of
digoxin in reducing all-cause admissions, HF admissions, and HF death or
hospitalization are independent of age. Thus, digoxin remains a useful agent to
the adjunctive treatment of HF due to impaired left ventricular systolic
function in patients of all ages.
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Study Website |
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Study Documentation |
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Data Distribution Agreement |
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