Background: To describe the clinical characteristics of patients with stable angina pectoris who develop heart failure and the events preceding its onset. Methods and results: Of 7665 patients with stable angina in the ACTION trial, which compared long-acting nifedipine to placebo, 207 (2.7%) developed heart failure (HF) during a mean follow-up of 4.9 years. Those who developed HF were significantly (P < 0.05) older, more often had diabetes, had a more extensive history of cardiovascular disease, lower ejection fractions, a higher serum creatinine and glucose, a lower haemoglobin, and were more often on blood pressure lowering drugs. A cardiac event or an intervention (n = 155), a significant non-cardiac infection (n = 19) or poor control of hypertension (n = 12) preceded the development of HF in 186/207 cases (90%). There was no obvious precipitating factor in the remaining 21 patients (10%). Myocardial infarction increased the risk of the development of new HF within one week more than 100-fold. Nifedipine reduced the incidence of HF by 29% (P = 0.015). Conclusions: The development of heart failure is uncommon in patients with stable angina, and even less so in the absence of an obvious precipitating factor.

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doi.org/10.1016/j.ejheart.2006.09.002, hdl.handle.net/1765/36818
European Journal of Heart Failure
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Sutton, G., Otterstad, J. E., Kirwan, B. A., Vokó, Z., de Brouwer, S., Lubsen, J., & Poole-Wilson, P. (2007). The development of heart failure in patients with stable angina pectoris. European Journal of Heart Failure, 9(3), 234–242. doi:10.1016/j.ejheart.2006.09.002