European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on December 8, 2005
European Heart Journal 2006 27(2):127-129; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi686
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© The European Society of Cardiology 2005. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Rehabilitating digoxin
Department of Medicine, Divisions of Cardiology and Clinical Epidemiology, Room R4.12, McGill University Health Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital, 687 Pine Avenue West, Montréal, Québec, Canada 3A 1A1
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: james.brophy@mcgill.ca
This editorial refers to ‘Digoxin and reduction in mortality and hospitalization in heart failure: a comprehensive post hoc analysis of the DIG trial’
by A. Ahmed et al., on page 178
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Digitalis glycosides were among the first cardiovascular therapeutic agents used in medicine, but despite descriptions over 200 years ago of their utility in the treatment of dropsy (heart failure), there was a lingering controversy concerning any clinical benefit. To resolve this uncertainty, a large simple randomized trial comparing digoxin to placebo was designed1 and executed2 in early 1990s. This National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Department of Veteran's Affairs sponsored trial was performed by the Digitalis Investigators’ Group (DIG).2
The DIG trial involved 302 clinical centres in the United States and Canada, randomized 7788 heart failure patients with normal sinus rhythm, and followed them for an average of 37 months. The main study involved 6800 patients with an ejection fraction <45%, whereas an ancillary arm included 988 patients with normal ejection fraction. The primary outcome was total mortality, and a limited number of secondary analyses including cardiovascular death,
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Related articles in EHJ:
- Digoxin and reduction in mortality and hospitalization in heart failure: a comprehensive post hoc analysis of the DIG trial
- Ali Ahmed, Michael W. Rich, Thomas E. Love, Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, Inmaculada B. Aban, Wilson S. Colucci, Kirkwood F. Adams, and Mihai Gheorghiade
EHJ 2006 27: 178-186.[Abstract] [Full Text]
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