Angiotensin receptor blockade with candesartan in heart failure: findings from the Candesartan in Heart failure--assessment of reduction in mortality and morbidity (CHARM) programme.

BACKGROUND: Randomized clinical trials in patients with chronic heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) have demonstrated the life-saving and symptomatic benefits of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, beta-blockers, and, in more selected patients, spironolactone. Despite these major advancements, the prevalence of heart failure continues to increase mainly as a consequence of aging populations. The development of angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers (ARBs) provides a pharmacologically distinct mechanism of inhibiting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. ARBs offer the potential to produce further clinical improvements for patients with heart failure above and beyond ACE inhibitors, as well as an alternative for those intolerant to an ACE inhibitor. METHODS: The Candesartan in Heart failure--Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and morbidity (CHARM) programme was designed as three parallel, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials comparing candesartan with placebo in three different but complementary populations of patients with symptomatic heart failure. RESULTS: In patients with intolerance to an ACE inhibitor and an LVEF of 40% or less (the CHARM-Alternative trial), candesartan reduced cardiovascular mortality and hospitalizations for heart failure by 23% (P < 0.001). In patients with an LVEF of 40% or less treated with an ACE inhibitor (the CHARM-Added trial), candesartan reduced cardiovascular death and hospitalization for chronic heart failure by 15% (P = 0.011). In patients with a LVEF greater than 40% (the CHARM-Preserved trial), hospitalizations for heart failure and new-onset diabetes were significantly reduced. CONCLUSION: The CHARM programme, together with evidence from mechanistic studies and from other large trials with ARBs, constitutes a firm basis for including an ARB in the therapeutic arsenal in the treatment for chronic heart failure.

Effects of candesartan on the development of a new diagnosis of diabetes mellitus in patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is a risk factor for heart failure, and both conditions are increasing. Identifying treatments that prevent both conditions will be clinically important. We previously reported that candesartan (an angiotensin receptor blocker) reduces cardiovascular mortality and heart failure hospitalizations in heart failure patients (CHARM: Candesartan in Heart Failure-Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity Program). METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed the impact of candesartan versus placebo on the development of diabetes, a predefined secondary outcome in a randomized, controlled, double-blind study involving 5436 of the 7601 patients with heart failure, irrespective of ejection fraction, who did not have a diagnosis of diabetes at entry into the trial. Patients received candesartan (target of 32 mg once daily) or matching placebo for 2 to 4 years. One hundred sixty-three (6.0%) individuals in the candesartan group developed diabetes, as compared with 202 (7.4%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78 with a 95% confidence interval [CI] of 0.64 to 0.96; P=0.020). The composite end point of death or diabetes occurred in 692 (25.2%) and 779 (28.6%), respectively, in the candesartan and placebo groups (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.95; P=0.004). The results were not statistically heterogeneous in the various subgroups examined, although the apparent magnitude of benefit appeared to be smaller among those treated concomitantly with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors at trial entry (HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.65 to 1.20) compared with those not receiving these drugs (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.93; P for heterogeneity, 0.28). CONCLUSIONS: The angiotensin receptor blocker candesartan appears to prevent diabetes in heart failure patients, suggesting that the renin-angiotensin axis is implicated in glucose regulation.