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(Circulation. 1997;95:2368-2373.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Short-Acting Nifedipine and Diltiazem Do Not Reduce the Incidence of Cardiac Events in Patients With Healed Myocardial Infarction

Kinji Ishikawa, MD; Shoji Nakai, MD; Toshihiko Takenaka, MD; Ken Kanamasa, MD; Junkichi Hama, MD; Iwao Ogawa, MD; Tadahiko Yamamoto, MD; Miki Oyaizu, MD; Akio Kimura, MD; Kentaro Yamamoto, MD; Hiroshi Yabushita, MD; Ryo Katori, MD; on behalf of the Secondary Prevention Group

From Kinki University, School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.

Correspondence to Kinji Ishikawa, MD, Professor of Medicine, First Department of Medicine, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osakasayama, Osaka 589, Japan.

Background The administration of calcium antagonists to patients with healed myocardial infarction is a controversial treatment. This study was conducted to elucidate the effect of short-acting nifedipine and diltiazem on cardiac events in patients with healed myocardial infarction.

Methods and Results A controlled clinical open trial of 1115 patients with healed myocardial infarction was carried out between 1986 and 1994. The patients included 595 who received no calcium antagonist, 341 who received short-acting nifedipine 30 mg/d, and 179 who received short-acting diltiazem 90 mg/d. The primary end points were cardiac events, which were defined as fatal or nonfatal recurrent myocardial infarction; death from congestive heart failure; sudden death; and hospitalization because of worsening angina, congestive heart failure, or premature ventricular contractions. Cardiac events occurred in 51 patients (8.6%) in the no-calcium-antagonist group and 54 (10.4%) in the calcium-antagonist group (odds ratio, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.85), demonstrating that the calcium antagonists did not reduce the incidence of cardiac events. Subgroup analysis revealed no beneficial effects of these drugs for reducing cardiac events in patients with such complications as hypertension or angina pectoris.

Conclusions This study showed that use of short-acting nifedipine and diltiazem in this postmyocardial infarction population was associated with a 24% higher cardiac event rate, but this strong adverse trend did not reach statistical significance.

Key Words: myocardial infarction • angina • death, sudden • prevention

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