• G Olsson, N Rehnqvist, U Freyschuss, and S Zetterquist.
• Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Danderyd, Sweden.
• Am. J. Cardiol. 1988 Mar 1; 61 (8): 519-23.

AbstractThe effect of therapy on exercise performance during a 3-year follow-up after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was evaluated in a double-blind randomized comparison between 154 patients given metoprolol (100 mg twice daily) and 147 patients given placebo. Exercise tests were performed 1.5, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after AMI. Maximal accomplished workloads were similar in the 2 groups throughout follow-up. Maximal heart rate was significantly higher in the placebo-treated group throughout the study (p less than 0.001). At the 6-week test more patients in the placebo group terminated exercise due to angina pectoris (40 vs 25%, p less than 0.05) and showed exercise-induced ST-depressions (38 vs 27%, p = 0.05) compared with the metoprolol group. Exercise-induced ventricular arrhythmias were significantly more common in the placebo group during the initial 6 months. Death, another AMI or both were significantly reduced by metoprolol treatment in patients with exercise-induced ST depression greater than or equal to 1 mm at the 6-week test. In a multiple logistic regression analysis maximal accomplished workload at 6 weeks (p less than 0.026), male sex (relative risk [rr] = 3.57, p = 0.016), previous AMI (rr = 3.07, p = 0.001), therapy with placebo (rr = 2.14, p = 0.007) and left ventricular failure (rr = 2.04, p = 0.023) were shown to carry independent prognostic information as well as exercise-induced ST-depression (greater than or equal to 1 mm) in placebo-treated patients (rr = 2.70, p = 0.01).

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