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Background Heart failure (HF) management guidelines recommend that most patients with HF receive an ACE inhibitor or an angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist (angiotensin receptor blocker [ARB]) and a β-blocker (β-adrenoceptor antagonist), collectively referred to as ‘cardiac drugs’, based on results from randomized controlled trials showing that these drugs reduce mortality. However, the results of randomized controlled trials may not be generalizable to the population most likely (i.e. the elderly) to receive these drugs in clinical practice.

Objective To determine the effectiveness of cardiac drugs for reducing mortality in the elderly Medicare HF population.

Study Design Retrospective, survey-weighted, cohort analysis of the 2002 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey Cost and Use files.

Participant 12 697 beneficiaries, of …