1. The mortality risk associated with digitalis treatment after myocardial infarction
- Author
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Linda M. Rolnitzky, Terry M. Therneau, Fleiss Jl, E. Carleen, Odoroff Cl, Bigger Jt, and Arthur J. Moss
- Subjects
Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Myocardial Infarction ,Digitalis ,Risk Factors ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Hospital discharge ,Humans ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Myocardial infarction ,Survival analysis ,Aged ,Pharmacology ,biology ,Proportional hazards model ,business.industry ,Mortality rate ,Digitalis Glycosides ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,Confidence interval ,Relative risk ,Cardiology ,Female ,Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine ,business - Abstract
We examined the effects of digitalis therapy on postinfarction mortality throughout a 24-month to 48-month follow-up in 867 patients who survived an acute myocardial infarction. During follow-up, 145 patients died (16.7% mortality). At the time of hospital discharge, 31% of the patients were taking digitalis. The digitalis-treated patients were older, had more medical-cardiac risk factors, and had a higher mortality rate throughout the follow-up than the nondigitalis-treated patients. Statistical techniques were used to adjust for clinical imbalances between the digitalis-treated patients and nondigitalis-treated patients. The survival analysis (n = 728 patients) utilized the Cox regression model, and the digitalis-associated mortality risk was identified only after all significant covariates were allowed, so that mortality could be predicted as accurately as possible. Digitalis therapy was associated with a significantly increased postinfarction mortality risk after adjustment for the predictor covariates (relative risk 2.3, 95% confidence interval 1.4-3.7, p less than 0.001). The findings from this large multicenter study suggest that it would be prudent to exercise caution in the use of digitalis in postinfarction patients.
- Published
- 1987