Beneficios adicionales del tratamiento con candesartán en la insuficiencia cardíaca. Programa CHARM

The Candesartan in Heart failure Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and morbidity (CHARM) program consists of three placebo-controlled clinical trials of candesartan in patients with symptomatic heart failure: two in patients with reduced ventricular function (the CHARM-Added and CHARM-Alternative trials) and one in patients with preserved ventricular function (the CHARM-Preserved trial). In addition, a combined evaluation of the three trials has also been carried out (CHARM-Overall). All trials demonstrated a reduction in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and/or significant reduction in the number of hospital admissions for heart failure (whether mild or severe), or both, in the groups receiving active treatment. However, the benefit of candesartan overcomes its direct effect in heart failure. It has been demonstrated that candesartan prevents the development of diabetes, atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction in patients with symptomatic chronic heart failure, what improve, even more the prognosis of these patients. In this manuscript the additional benefits of candesartan in the treatment of heart failure are reviewed.