Optimising drug combinations for people with heart failure

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In print

PHARMACOTHERAPY

Optimising drug combinations for people with heart failure

12 October 2022

By Penny Clark and Linda Bryant

Wednesday 12 October 2022, 12:25 AM

[Image: Ali Hajiluyi on Unsplash]

As our understanding of heart failure has increased, so too has the number of medicines used to treat it. This article summarises the optimisation and cumulative impact of heart failure treatments

Key points, Optimisation of therapy extends life expectancy for those with heart failure. For heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (≤35 per cent), those, Pract Green w Pale Yellow

Cardiovascular

References

Troughton R. Heart failure: what a GP needs to know in 2020. Research Review Speaker Series 2020.
Ministry of Health. Cardiovascular disease. August 2018.
McMurray JJ, Packer M, Desai AS, et al. Angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition versus enalapril in heart failure. N Engl J Med 2014;371(11):993–1004.
Packer M, Anker SD, Butler J, et al. Cardiovascular and renal outcomes with empagliflozin in heart failure. N Engl J Med 2020;383(15):1413–24.
Anker SD, Butler J, Filippatos G, et al. Empagliflozin in heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction. N Engl J Med 2021;385(16):1451–61.
Vaduganathan M, Claggett BL, Jhund PS, et al. Estimating lifetime benefits of comprehensive disease-modifying pharmacological therapies in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: a comparative analysis of three randomised controlled trials. Lancet 2020;396(10244):121–28.

How to Treat

+How to treat

Pharmacist prescribers Linda Bryant and Leanne Te Karu discuss positive polypharmacy for heart failure. Current evidence shows the intensive implementation of four medications offers the greatest benefit to most patients with heart failure, with significant reductions in cardiovascular mortality, heart failure hospitalisations and all-cause mortality

Wednesday 29 January 2025, 12:45 AM