Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of all patients started on carvedilol
| Withdrawn patients (n=106) | Excluded patients (n=66) | Included patients (n=257) | |
| Mean age (years) | 60 | 61 | 57 |
| Sex (male:female) (%) | 85:15 | 93:7 | 86:14 |
| Diagnosis: IHD/CM/other (%) | 37/56/7 | 39/53/8 | 30/65/5**** |
| Duration of heart failure (months) | 40 | 37 | 45 |
| Atrial fibrillation (%) | 16 | 24 | 18 |
| Heart rate (beats/min) | 80 | 81 | 82 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 110 | 119 | 114 |
| Serum sodium (mmol/l) | 138 | 138 | 138 |
| Serum creatinine (mmol/l) | 0.13 | 0.12 | 0.12 |
| 6 min walk distance (m) | 395† | 472 | 447 |
| NYHA class: I/II/III/IV (%) | 1/11/53/37*** | 2/21/61/16 | 6/26/48/20 |
| Drugs (%) | |||
| ACE inhibitors | 94 | 98 | 97 |
| Diuretics | 96 | 92 | 90 |
| Digoxin | 79 | 77 | 76 |
| Amiodarone | 41 | 52 | 32 |
| Echocardiographic variables | |||
| LVEDD (mm) | 72 | 74 | 73 |
| LVESD (mm) | 61 | 62 | 63 |
| LVFS (%) | 15 | 17 | 15 |
***p < 0.001 v other groups; ****p < 0.0001 v other groups.
ACE, angiotensin converting enzyme; CM, cardiomyopathy; IHD, ischaemic heart disease; LVEDD, left ventricular end diastolic dimension; LVESD, left ventricular end systolic dimension; LVFS, left ventricular fractional shortening; NYHA, New York Heart Association.