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Baseline demographics of the Valsartan Heart Failure Trial. Val-HeFT Investigators

J N Cohn1, G Tognoni, R Glazer

  • 1University of Minnesota Medical School, Box 508, 420 Delaware Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. cohnx001@tc.umn.edu

European Journal of Heart Failure
|December 13, 2000
PubMed

Insights

The Valsartan Heart Failure Trial (Val-HeFT) evaluated valsartan in heart failure patients. Results showed the study population is representative of mild to moderate heart failure patients in industrialized nations.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Pharmacology
  • Clinical Trials

Background:

  • The Valsartan Heart Failure Trial (Val-HeFT) is a landmark multinational study.
  • It investigates valsartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker, as an add-on therapy for heart failure.
  • The study includes patients with ejection fraction <40% receiving conventional treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present and compare baseline characteristics of Val-HeFT participants.
  • To establish the representativeness of the Val-HeFT cohort.

Main Methods:

  • Randomized, multinational clinical study design.
  • Data collection and calculation of summary statistics for baseline characteristics.
  • Comparison of baseline data with other major heart failure trials.

Main Results:

  • The study population (n=5010) has a mean age of 62.7 years, 80% male, and 90.3% white.
  • Common comorbidities include coronary heart disease (57.2%).
  • High rates of conventional therapy use: ACE inhibitors (92.7%), diuretics (85.8%), digoxin (67.3%), and beta-blockers (35.6%).

Conclusions:

  • The Val-HeFT population is broadly representative of patients with mild to moderate heart failure in industrialized countries.
  • Baseline characteristics showed minimal variation across subgroups (age, sex, race, ejection fraction).
Abstract

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