Effect of carvedilol vs metoprolol succinate on mortality in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

The Effects of Beta-Blockers on Leukocytes and the Leukocyte Subpopulation in Heart Failure Patients

Background/Objectives: Some specific types of white blood cells (WBCs) and the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are independent predictors of outcome for heart failure (HF) patients. WBC redistribution is induced by catecholamines, and therefore we evaluate how different types of beta-blockers (BBs) influence it. Methods: The HF patients were clinically evaluated, and blood was drawn to measure N-Terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), WBC-differential formula, etc. Results: On admission, 61.16% of patients who used a BB had no significant difference in the number of lymphocytes (Lym) and neutrophils (Neu), but NLR and NT- proBNP were significantly lower compared with those without BB. NT-proBNP correlated with BB dose on admission and was significantly lower in patients treated with Metoprolol (Met) as compared with Carvedilol (Car). The type and dose of BB used was responsible for 6.1% and 5.9% of the variability in the number of Lym and Neu, respectively. Patients treated with ≥100 mg Met/day had a higher Lym number, but not of Neu, with reduced NLR, compared with lower doses. Patients treated with ≥25 mg Car/day had a lower Lym number and a greater Neu number, compared with lower doses, with increased NLR. Conclusions: However, both BBs had the same rehospitalization rate during the 12 month follow-up and had an improved outcome.

Sex difference in human diseases: mechanistic insights and clinical implications

Sex characteristics exhibit significant disparities in various human diseases, including prevalent cardiovascular diseases, cancers, metabolic disorders, autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Risk profiles and pathological manifestations of these diseases exhibit notable variations between sexes. The underlying reasons for these sex disparities encompass multifactorial elements, such as physiology, genetics, and environment. Recent studies have shown that human body systems demonstrate sex-specific gene expression during critical developmental stages and gene editing processes. These genes, differentially expressed based on different sex, may be regulated by androgen or estrogen-responsive elements, thereby influencing the incidence and presentation of cardiovascular, oncological, metabolic, immune, and neurological diseases across sexes. However, despite the existence of sex differences in patients with human diseases, treatment guidelines predominantly rely on male data due to the underrepresentation of women in clinical trials. At present, there exists a substantial knowledge gap concerning sex-specific mechanisms and clinical treatments for diverse diseases. Therefore, this review aims to elucidate the advances of sex differences on human diseases by examining epidemiological factors, pathogenesis, and innovative progress of clinical treatments in accordance with the distinctive risk characteristics of each disease and provide a new theoretical and practical basis for further optimizing individualized treatment and improving patient prognosis.

How to Optimize Goal-Directed Medical Therapy (GDMT) in Patients with Heart Failure

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Heart failure is a clinical syndrome with signs and symptoms from underlying cardiac abnormality and evidence of pulmonary or systemic congestion on laboratory testing or other objective findings (Bozkurt et al. in Eur J Heart Fail 23:352-380, 2021). Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), when heart failure is due to underlying reduction in ejection fraction to ≤ 40. The goal of this review is to briefly describe the mechanisms and benefits of the various pharmacological interventions described in the 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA Guidelines focusing on Stage C: Symptomatic Heart Failure HFrEF, while providing basic guidance on safe use of these medications.

RECENT FINDINGS

Use of medications from each class as recommended in the 2022 Guidelines can provide significant morbidity and mortality benefits for our patients. Despite advances in therapeutics for patients with HFrEF, patients are frequently under treated and more research is needed to help optimize management of these complicated patients.

Carvedilol Activates a Myofilament Signaling Circuitry to Restore Cardiac Contractility in Heart Failure

Phosphorylation of myofilament proteins critically regulates beat-to-beat cardiac contraction and is typically altered in heart failure (HF). β-Adrenergic activation induces phosphorylation in numerous substrates at the myofilament. Nevertheless, how cardiac β-adrenoceptors (βARs) signal to the myofilament in healthy and diseased hearts remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to uncover the spatiotemporal regulation of local βAR signaling at the myofilament and thus identify a potential therapeutic target for HF. Phosphoproteomic analysis of substrate phosphorylation induced by different βAR ligands in mouse hearts was performed. Genetically encoded biosensors were used to characterize cyclic adenosine and guanosine monophosphate signaling and the impacts on excitation-contraction coupling induced by β1AR ligands at both the cardiomyocyte and whole-heart levels. Myofilament signaling circuitry was identified, including protein kinase G1 (PKG1)-dependent phosphorylation of myosin light chain kinase, myosin phosphatase target subunit 1, and myosin light chain at the myofilaments. The increased phosphorylation of myosin light chain enhances cardiac contractility, with a minimal increase in calcium (Ca2+) cycling. This myofilament signaling paradigm is promoted by carvedilol-induced β1AR-nitric oxide synthetase 3 (NOS3)-dependent cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling, drawing a parallel to the β1AR-cyclic adenosine monophosphate-protein kinase A pathway. In patients with HF and a mouse HF model of myocardial infarction, increasing expression and association of NOS3 with β1AR were observed. Stimulating β1AR-NOS3-PKG1 signaling increased cardiac contraction in the mouse HF model. This research has characterized myofilament β1AR-PKG1-dependent signaling circuitry to increase phosphorylation of myosin light chain and enhance cardiac contractility, with a minimal increase in Ca2+ cycling. The present findings raise the possibility of targeting this myofilament signaling circuitry for treatment of patients with HF.

Comparing the effects of various β-blockers on cardiovascular mortality in breast cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular (CV) disease is a leading cause of death in breast cancer (BC) patients due to the increased age and treatments. While individual β-blockers have been investigated to manage CV complications, various β-blockers have not been compared for their effects on CV death in this population. We aimed to compare CV mortality in older BC patients taking one of the commonly used β-blockers.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) - Medicare data (2010-2015). Patients of age 66 years or older at BC diagnosis receiving metoprolol, atenolol, or carvedilol monotherapy were included. The competing risk regression model was used to determine the risk of CV mortality in the three β-blocker groups. The multivariable model was adjusted for demographic and clinical covariates. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported for the risk of CV mortality.

RESULTS

The study cohort included 6,540 patients of which 55% were metoprolol users, 30% were atenolol users, and 15% were carvedilol users. Metoprolol was associated with a 37% reduced risk of CV mortality (P = 0.03) compared to carvedilol after adjusting for the covariates (HR = 0.63; 95% CI 0.41-0.96). No significant difference in the risk of CV mortality between atenolol and carvedilol users was observed (HR = 0.74; 95% CI 0.44-1.22).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that metoprolol is associated with a reduced risk of CV mortality in BC patients. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings and understand the mechanism of action.

Effectiveness and safety of four different beta-blockers in patients with chronic heart failure

In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of bisoprolol, metoprolol, carvedilol, and nebivolol in the treatment of chronic heart failure. The results demonstrated that bisoprolol improved the prognosis of chronic heart failure in comparison with carvedilol, and carvedilol exerted similar effects as metoprolol succinate and nebivolol and better effect than metoprolol tartrate (evidence levels: bisoprolol > carvedilol = metoprolol succinate = nebivolol > metoprolol tartrate; " > " means "prior to").

Carvedilol versus Metoprolol in Patients with Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias

The study investigates the prognostic role of treatment with carvedilol as compared to metoprolol in patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmias. A large retrospective registry was used including consecutive patients on beta-blocker (BB) treatment with episodes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) or fibrillation (VF) from 2002 to 2015. Patients treated with carvedilol were compared to patients with metoprolol. The primary prognostic outcome was all-cause mortality at three years. Secondary endpoints comprised a composite arrhythmic endpoint (i.e., recurrences of ventricular tachyarrhythmias, appropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapies) and cardiac rehospitalization. Kaplan–Meier survival curves, multivariable Cox regression analyses, and propensity score matching were applied for statistics. There were 1098 patients included, 80% treated with metoprolol and 20% with carvedilol. Patients with carvedilol were older, more often presenting with VT (78% vs. 62%; p = 0.001) and with more advanced stages of heart failure. Treatment with carvedilol was associated with comparable all-cause mortality compared to metoprolol (20% vs. 16%, log rank p = 0.234; HR = 1.229; 95% CI 0.874–1.728; p = 0.235). However, secondary endpoints (i.e., composite arrhythmic endpoint: 32% vs. 17%; p = 0.001 and cardiac rehospitalization: 25% vs. 14%; p = 0.001) were more frequently observed in patients with carvedilol, which was still evident after multivariable adjustment. After propensity score matching (n = 194 patients with carvedilol and metoprolol), no further differences regarding the distribution of baseline characteristics were observed. Within the propensity-score-matched cohort, higher rates of the composite arrhythmic endpoint were still observed in patients treated with carvedilol, whereas the risk of cardiac rehospitalization was not affected by the type of beta-blocker treatment. In conclusion, carvedilol and metoprolol are associated with comparable all-cause mortality in patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmias, whereas the risk of the composite arrhythmic endpoint was increased in patients with carvedilol therapy.

Effects of Carvedilol on Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar, and Blood Lipids in Elderly Patients with Refractory Hypertension

Refractory hypertension seriously affects the life safety of patients. To investigate the effect of carvedilol combined with conventional antihypertensive therapy on blood pressure, blood sugar, blood lipids, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications in elderly patients with refractory hypertension, a total of 80 elderly patients with refractory hypertension who were admitted from June 2019 to September 2021 were selected as the retrospective research objects and divided into the observation group and the control group according to the random number table method, 40 cases in each group, and the control group received conventional antihypertensive therapy. On this basis, the observation group was treated with carvedilol, and the effects of blood pressure, blood sugar, blood lipids, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications were analyzed in the two groups. After treatment, the systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, adrenal medulla (AM), and endothelin (ET) of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group, but the heart rate and NO of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group. After treatment, the fasting blood glucose, insulin, triacylglycerol (TG), cholesterol (CHO), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group, but the ISI and HDL-C of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group. After treatment, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, UAER, BUN, and SCr in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group. The TC of the observation group was lower than that of the control group. Combination therapy has a remarkably stable, sustained, and safe antihypertensive effect on patients with refractory hypertension.

Development of Extended-Release Mini-Tablets Containing Metoprolol Supported by Design of Experiments and Physiologically Based Biopharmaceutics Modeling

The development of extended-release dosage forms with adequate drug release is a challenge for pharmaceutical companies, mainly when the drug presents high solubility, as in Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) class I. This study aimed to develop extended-release mini-tablets containing metoprolol succinate (MS), while integrating design of experiments (DOE) and physiologically based biopharmaceutics modeling (PBBM), to predict its absorption and to run virtual bioequivalence (VBE) studies in both fasted and fed states. Core mini-tablet formulations (F1, F2, and F3) were prepared by direct compression and coated using nine coating formulations planned using DOE, while varying the percentages of the controlled-release and the pore-forming polymers. The coated mini-tablets were submitted to a dissolution test; additional formulations were prepared that were optimized by simulating the dissolution profiles, and the best one was submitted to VBE studies using GastroPlus® software. An optimized formulation (FO) containing a mixture of immediate and extended-release mini-tablets showed to be bioequivalent to the reference drug product containing MS when running VBE studies in both fasted and fed states. The integration of DOE and PBBM showed to be an interesting approach in the development of extended-release mini-tablet formulation containing MS, and can be used to rationalize the development of dosage forms.

Carvedilol induces biased β1 adrenergic receptor-nitric oxide synthase 3-cyclic guanylyl monophosphate signalling to promote cardiac contractility

AIMS

β-blockers are widely used in therapy for heart failure and hypertension. β-blockers are also known to evoke additional diversified pharmacological and physiological effects in patients. We aim to characterize the underlying molecular signalling and effects on cardiac inotropy induced by β-blockers in animal hearts.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Wild-type mice fed high-fat diet (HFD) were treated with carvedilol, metoprolol, or vehicle and echocardiogram analysis was performed. Heart tissues were used for biochemical and histological analyses. Cardiomyocytes were isolated from normal and HFD mice and rats for analysis of adrenergic signalling, calcium handling, contraction, and western blot. Biosensors were used to measure β-blocker-induced cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) signal and protein kinase A activity in myocytes. Acute stimulation of myocytes with carvedilol promotes β1 adrenergic receptor (β1AR)- and protein kinase G (PKG)-dependent inotropic cardiac contractility with minimal increases in calcium amplitude. Carvedilol acts as a biased ligand to promote β1AR coupling to a Gi-PI3K-Akt-nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) cascade and induces robust β1AR-cGMP-PKG signal. Deletion of NOS3 selectively blocks carvedilol, but not isoproterenol-induced β1AR-dependent cGMP signal and inotropic contractility. Moreover, therapy with carvedilol restores inotropic contractility and sensitizes cardiac adrenergic reserves in diabetic mice with minimal impact in calcium signal, as well as reduced cell apoptosis and hypertrophy in diabetic hearts.

CONCLUSION

These observations present a novel β1AR-NOS3 signalling pathway to promote cardiac inotropy in the heart, indicating that this signalling paradigm may be targeted in therapy of heart diseases with reduced ejection fraction.

New pharmacological treatments for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF): A Bayesian network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) has contributed to an increasing number of deaths and readmissions over the past few decades. Despite the appearance of standard treatments, including diuretics, β-receptor blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), there are still a large number of patients who have progressive deterioration of heart function and, inevitably, end-stage heart failure. In recent years, new medications for treating chronic heart failure have been clinically applied, but there is controversy surrounding drug selection and whether patients with HFrEF benefit from these medications. Therefore, we aimed to compare and rank different new pharmacological treatments in patients with HFrEF.

METHODS

We performed a network meta-analysis to identify both direct and indirect evidence from relevant studies. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO through the OVID database and CENTRAL through the Cochrane Library for clinical randomized controlled trials investigating new pharmacological treatments in patients with HFrEF published up to September 30, 2018. We included trials of ivabradine, levosimendan, omega-3, tolvaptan, recombinant human B-type natriuretic peptide (rhBNP), isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine (ISDN/HYD) and angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition (LCZ696). We extracted the relevant information from these trials with a predefined data extraction sheet and assessed the risk of bias with the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Based on these items, more than half of the entries were judged as having an overall low to moderate risk of bias; the remaining studies had a high or unclear risk of bias. The outcomes investigated were left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF %), heart rate (HR) and serum level of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). We performed a random-effects network meta-analysis within a Bayesian framework.

RESULTS

We deemed 32 trials to be eligible that included 3810 patients and 32 treatments. Overall, 32 (94.1%) trials had a low to moderate risk of bias, while 2 (5.9%) trials had a high risk of bias. The quality of the included studies was rated as low in regard to allocation concealment and blinding and high in regard to other domains according to the Cochrane tools. As for increasing LVEF%, levosimendan was better than placebo (-3.77 (-4.96, -2.43)) and was the best intervention for improving ventricle contraction. As for controlling HR, n3-PUFA was better than placebo (4.01 (-0.44, 8.48)) and was the best choice for regulating HR. As for decreasing BNP, omega-3 was better than placebo (941.99 (-47.48, 1952.89) and was the best therapy for improving ventricle wall tension.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study confirmed the effectiveness of the included new pharmacological treatments for optimizing the structural performance and improving the cardiac function in the management of patients with HFrEF and recommended several interventions for clinical practice.

Heart failure in the patient with diabetes: Epidemiology, aetiology, prognosis, therapy and the effect of glucose-lowering medications

In people with type 2 diabetes the frequency of heart failure (HF) is increased and mortality from HF is higher than with non-diabetic HF. The increased frequency of HF is attributable to the cardiotoxic tetrad of ischaemic heart disease, left ventricular hypertrophy, diabetic cardiomyopathy and an extracellular volume expansion resistant to atrial natriuretic peptides. Activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and sympathetic nervous systems results in cardiac remodelling, which worsens cardiac function. Reversal of remodelling can be achieved, and cardiac function improved in people with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) by treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and β-blockers. However, with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), only therapy for the underlying risk factors helps. Blockers of mineralocorticoid receptors may be beneficial in both HFrEF and HFpEF. Glucose-lowering drugs can have a negative effect (insulin, sulphonylureas, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and thiazolidinediones), a neutral effect (α-glucosidase inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) or a positive effect (sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors and metformin).

Effect on Mortality of Higher Versus Lower β-Blocker (Metoprolol Succinate or Carvedilol) Dose in Patients With Heart Failure

This study aimed to compare the effect of β-blocker dose and heart rate (HR) on mortality in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The Veteran Affairs databases were queried to identify all patients diagnosed with HFrEF based on International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision codes from 2007 to 2015 and β-blocker (carvedilol or metoprolol succinate) use. 36,168 patients on low dose β blocker were then matched with 36,168 patients on high dose β-blocker using propensity score matching. The impact of β-blocker dose and HR was assessed on overall mortality using Cox proportional hazard model. After dividing average HR into separate quartiles and adjusting for patient characteristics, high β-blocker dose was associated with lower overall mortality as compared with a low dose of β blocker (hazard ratio 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.73 to 0.77, p <0.01) independent of the HR achieved. The results held for all 4 quartiles of average HR. A higher β-blocker dose or a lower HR were independently and jointly associated with lower mortality for all quartiles of HR. In conclusion, higher dose of β-blocker therapy and a lower achieved HR were independently associated with a reduction in mortality in HFrEF patients.