Preliminary findings indicate a heart failure medication used by adults, carvedilol, may not significantly improve heart failure outcomes for children and adolescents, according to an article in the September 12 issue of JAMA.“Heart failure due to systemic ventricular dysfunction is a significant medical problem for children and represents the reason for at least 50 percent of pediatric referrals for heart transplantation. To date, there have been no large randomized controlled trials of any medication in children and adolescents with chronic heart failure. Treatment recommendations in children and adolescents with heart failure are extrapolated from the results of clinical trials conducted in adults, which may be problematic,” the authors write.
