What medications are typically used to reduce the risk of developing heart failure?
Diuretics, ACE inhibitors, ARBs, -blockers, and calcium channel blockers are all medications typically used to reduce the risk of developing heart failure. Diuretics have been shown to be more effective as a first-line treatment for preventing the development of HF compared with ACE inhibitors, -blockers, or calcium channel blockers. ACE inhibitors have also been shown to be very effective in the prevention of HF, especially in patients with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction or patients after MI. ARBs have been shown to reduce the incidence of HF, especially in patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus and nephropathy. Calcium channel blockers appear to be somewhat less efficacious than the other agents for preventing HF. -Blockers have been shown to be inferior to chlorthalidone for the prevention of HF and was associated with the doubling of HF risk compared. The 2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure indicated that the role of calcium antagonists or -blockers is less clear for reducing the risk for incident HF.