ACE inhibitors reduce heart death rates

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new analysis reveals that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors reduce cardiovascular risk and death rates.
The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors lower blood pressure and they are often used to treat patients with coronary heart disease or heart failure. Research on their benefit in those with heart disease but without heart failure have, however, given some conflicting results.

Researchers at Georges Pompidou Hospital, Paris, have looked at trials of five different ACE inhibitors on a total of nearly 34,000 patients followed for a minimum of two years and an average of 4.4 years. Some patients received ACE inhibitors, others placebo. When the results of all the trials were analyzed together, it proved that treatment with ACE inhibitors signficantly reduced the risk of death from any cause, cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke. They also seemed to reduce the onset of diabetes, hospitalization for heart failure, and cardiac arrest. The researchers suggest that these findings justify the systematic use of ACE inhibitors among those with heart disease.

Source
Archives of Internal Medicine 10th April 2006 Volume 166 pages 787-796