either keep taking the drug (the “maintenance” group) or to start taking an inactive placebo instead (the “withdrawal” group). The patients did not know if they were still taking furosemide or not.
Over the next 90 days, there was no difference between the two groups in patient-reported shortness of breath, the team reported.
Also, 72 patients (75%) in the withdrawal group and 78 patients (84%) in the maintenance group did not require furosemide reuse during the 90-day follow-up, the study authors said. The findings were reported this week at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, in Athens, Greece.
“Heart failure patients have many pills to take for their heart failure and for [other illnesses], such as diabetes and hypertension,” Rohde said in a society news release. “Withdrawing one drug when it is no longer necessary should make it easier to take the ones that are needed,” he added.
According to study senior author Andreia Biolo, “The results show that patients with stable heart failure who stop diuretics do not have more (shortness of breath) than those who continue taking the drug.” Biolo is also with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.