Postinfarct treatment with verapamil. Effect of verapamil in patients with hypertension

In the Danish Verapamil Infarction Trial II (DAVIT II), treatment with verapamil 360 mg/day improved reinfarction-free survival compared with administration of placebo. Verapamil appears to effectively prevent reinfarction and sudden death, i.e. sudden events (hazard ratio 0.78 compared with placebo, 95% confidence limits 0.62 to 0.99). In a retrospective analysis of data from DAVIT II, verapamil treatment in patients with systemic hypertension prevented reinfarction significantly better than placebo (15 of 149 verapamil recipients compared with 27 of 152 placebo recipients reinfarcted, p = 0.04). Similarly, first cardiovascular events, i.e. first reinfarction, first stroke or death, were prevented more effectively by verapamil treatment than by administration of placebo (29 verapamil recipients vs 42 placebo recipients had first cardiovascular events, p = 0.07).