Diuretics Linked to Increased Mortality in Heart Failure
 (New Orleans, Medscape, 3/9/04)

Maria Rosa Costanzo, MD, from Midwest Heart Specialists in Naperville, Illinois, and team, reviewed the records of more than 100,0000 patients enrolled in the Acute Decompensated Heart Failure National Registry (ADHERE), the largest heart failure registry in the world. Analysis of the ADHERE data indicated that about 70% of all subjects received long-term diuretic therapy. The investigators divided the patients into 2 groups, based on blood levels of creatinine, a marker for renal insufficiency. The scientists found that, in general, patients receiving long-term diuretic therapy were more likely to die than their fellow registrants, especially if they had high creatinine levels. This study suggests that the practice of automatically prescribing diuretics for heart failure should be reevaluated