Nation IN BRIEF : MASSACHUSETTS : Drugs Curb Deaths From Heart Failure
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Drugs that relax blood vessels significantly improved the survival rate of people with mild congestive heart failure and their widespread use could prevent up to 20,000 deaths annually in the United States, researchers said. The drugs, ACE inhibitors, have been reserved largely for severe heart failure, but two studies--conducted by Dr. Salim Yusuf of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and Dr. Jay N. Cohn of the University of Minnesota and published in the New England Journal of Medicine--found them highly effective in mild and moderate cases. Yusuf’s research found that the ACE inhibitor enalapril reduced mortality 16% over a three-year period.
