Pharmacological trials including patients with more severe heart failure were more likely to show a significant improvement with therapy than trials of milder heart failure .
Using mean values in these trials , the age of patients appeared a more important determinant of 6MWT distance than New York Heart Association classification .
The 6MWT has not yet been proven to be a robust test for the identification of effective pharmacological interventions although it appears useful for the assessment of cardiac resynchronization therapy .
The results of the 6MWT were concordant with changes in symptoms , suggesting that it may be used as supportive evidence for symptom benefit .
AIMS The 6 min walk test ( 6MWT ) is commonly used in clinical trials to assess treatments for heart failure , but its ability to distinguish between effective and ineffective treatments is question able .
The aim of this study is to investigate , using a systematic literature review , the utility of the 6MWT as a measure of the effectiveness of treatment in r and omized controlled trials of heart failure .
Captopril treatment of chronic heart failure in the very old.
BACKGROUND The safety and efficacy of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors for very old patients with chronic heart failure have been less well documented than for younger patients . METHODS A prospect i ve , r and omized double-blind , placebo-controlled study of captopril , 25 mg twice daily , was design ed . Fifty patients ( mean age 84.2 + /- 5.2 ) participated . The degree of chronic heart failure ( according to the Boston Study Group rating ) , the distance walked in 6 minutes , and the occurrence of uncontrolled heart failure and adverse reactions were used as main outcome measures . RESULTS Significantly more patients receiving placebo developed uncontrolled heart failure than patients receiving captopril ( p = .022 ) . In an intention to treat analysis , the first and last evaluations of the degree of chronic heart failure were compared . A significantly different evolution was observed between the two treatment groups ( p < .001 ) , with a significant improvement only in the captopril-treated patients ( p < .001 ) . The distance walked in 6 minutes improved significantly only in the captopril group ( p = .004 ) . The only adverse reaction was rash in two patients receiving captopril . CONCLUSIONS The study gives further evidence that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor treatment for very old patients with chronic heart failure is useful
Pharmacological trials including patients with more severe heart failure were more likely to show a significant improvement with therapy than trials of milder heart failure .
Using mean values in these trials , the age of patients appeared a more important determinant of 6MWT distance than New York Heart Association classification .
The 6MWT has not yet been proven to be a robust test for the identification of effective pharmacological interventions although it appears useful for the assessment of cardiac resynchronization therapy .
The results of the 6MWT were concordant with changes in symptoms , suggesting that it may be used as supportive evidence for symptom benefit .
AIMS The 6 min walk test ( 6MWT ) is commonly used in clinical trials to assess treatments for heart failure , but its ability to distinguish between effective and ineffective treatments is question able .
The aim of this study is to investigate , using a systematic literature review , the utility of the 6MWT as a measure of the effectiveness of treatment in r and omized controlled trials of heart failure .