As part of the international valsartan heart failure trial (Val-HeFT-trial) a subgroup analysis of 239 german participants was conducted concerning the influence of the angiotensin II subtype 1 receptor antagonist valsartan on the heart rate and the prognostic value of heart rate in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Results: A high reproducibility for the heart rate was found. In patients with advanced CHF (New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III-IV) the heart rate was significantly higher than in patients with NYHA class II. In the valsartan group a significant reduction of heart rate was observed compared to the placebo group. In the multivariate analysis of factors like coronary heart disease, idiopathic cardiomyopathy, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, age, tender, weight, medication, left ventricular ejection fraction, atrial fibrillation and NYHA class, heart rate was not shown to be an independent prognostic factor.
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