Features of the trials	U.S. Carvedilol Heart Failure Program
Number of patients	1,094
Mean age	58 years
Gender	Men: 77 percent
	Women: 23 percent
Race	Not reported
Ejection fraction	Less than 35 percent
New York Heart Association classification	Class II: 53 percent
	Class III: 44 percent
	Class IV: 3 percent
Etiology of heart failure	Idiopathic and ischemic
Starting dosage	3.125 or 6.25 mg twice daily
Target dosage	25 to 50 mg twice daily
Average duration of study	Six and one-half months
Primary end points*	Exercise tolerance
	Quality of life
	Progression of disease†
Results	No improvement in exercise tolerance
	No improvement in quality of life
	48 percent reduction in progression of disease (P = 0.008)
	Mortality rate: placebo, 7.8 percent; carvedilol, 3.2 percent
Comments	The trials were stopped early because of outcome.
	Benefit was across all subgroups.