Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40389288›Full record

Trial reportEuropean journal of heart failure2025

DIGitoxin to Improve ouTcomes in patients with advanced chronic Heart Failure (DIGIT-HF): Baseline characteristics compared to recent randomized controlled heart failure trials.

Udo Bavendiek, Nele Henrike Thomas, Dominik Berliner, Xiaofei Liu, Johannes Schwab, Andreas Rieth, Lars S Maier, Sven Schallhorn, Eleonora Angelini, Samira Soltani and 26 more

Abstract readRandomized Controlled TrialMulticenter StudyComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in European journal of heart failure, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Exploration of the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Heart Failure.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2026
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

36 authors.

Udo Bavendiek *Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Nele Henrike Thomas *Institute for Biostatistics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Dominik Berliner *Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Xiaofei LiuInstitute for Biostatistics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Johannes SchwabDepartment of Cardiology, Paracelsus Medical University, Nuremberg, Germany.
Andreas RiethDepartment of Cardiology, Kerckhoff-Klinik, Bad Nauheim, Germany.
Lars S MaierDepartment for Internal Medicine II, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Sven SchallhornDepartment of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Eleonora AngeliniDepartment of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Samira SoltaniDepartment of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Fabian RathjeDepartment of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Mircea-Andrei SanduDepartment of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Welf GellerDepartment of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Thomas GasparDepartment of Internal and Cardiovascular Medicine, Herzzentrum Dresden, University Clinic, Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Rainer HambrechtDepartment of Internal Medicine II, Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Klinikum Links der Weser, Bremen, Germany.
Marija ZdravkovicClinic for Internal Medicine, University Clinical Hospital Center Bezanijska Kosa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Sebastian PhilippDepartment of Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Elbeklinikum Stade, Stade, Germany.
Dragana KosevicDepartment of Cardiology, Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases Dedinje, Belgrade, Serbia.
Georg NickenigDepartment of Medicine-Cardiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Daniel ScheiberDivision of Cardiology, Pulmonology and Vascular Medicine, University Hospital Duesseldorf, Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf, Medical Faculty, Duesseldorf, Germany.
Sebastian WinklerDepartment of Internal Medicine, BG Klinikum Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Peter Moritz BecherDepartment of Cardiology, University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Philipp LurzUniversity Medical Center Mainz, Center of Cardiology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
Martin HülsmannUniversitätsklinik für Innere Medizin II, Abteilung Kardiologie, Medizinische Universität Wien, Wien, Austria.
Maria von KarpowitzInstitute for Biostatistics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Christoph SchröderInstitute of Clinical Pharmacology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Barbara NeuhausCenter for Clinical Trials, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Anika SeltmannCenter for Clinical Trials, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Heiko von der LeyenOrgenesis, Inc, Germantown, MD, USA.
Christian VeltmannDepartment of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Stefan StörkDepartment Clinical Research & Epidemiology, Comprehensive Heart Failure Center Würzburg, and Department Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Michael BöhmKlinik für Innere Medizin III, HOMICAREM (HOMburg Institute for CArdioREnalMetabolic Medicine), Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, Saarland University, Homburg, Germany.
Armin KochInstitute for Biostatistics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Anika Großhennig *Institute for Biostatistics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Johann Bauersachs *Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
DIGIT‐HF Study Group

Funding

Braukmann-Wittenberg-HerzstiftungBundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungDeutsche Stiftung für Herzforschung
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsThis report presents the baseline characteristics of patients enrolled in the DIGIT-HF trial and compares them with participants from recent trials with improved outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) and a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). METHODS AND

resultsDIGIT-HF, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial enrolling patients with symptomatic HFrEF (New York Heart Association [NYHA] functional class II and left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] ≤30%, or NYHA class III-IV and LVEF ≤40%), compares the efficacy and safety of digitoxin versus placebo in addition to standard treatment. Most baseline characteristics of the intention-to-treat population (1212 patients, mean age 66 ± 11 years, 20% women, mean LVEF 29 ± 7%) were similar to those in recent HFrEF trials. The distribution of NYHA class II, III, and IV was 30%, 66% and 4%, respectively, and indicates that the patients were sicker than in comparator HFrEF trials. Less patients had atrial fibrillation (27%) than those in recent HFrEF trials, but prescription rates of background therapy with beta-blockers (96%), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers/angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (95%), mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (76%), and diuretics (87%) were high and similar. Overall, 40% of patients were on angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors, 19% on sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, and 9% on ivabradine. Rates of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD, 64%) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT, 25%) devices were much higher than in recent HFrEF trials.

conclusionsPatients included in DIGIT-HF display a more severe HF symptom burden and higher rates of ICD/CRT implants compared to participants in recent HFrEF trials, while pharmacotherapy was largely similar. CLINICAL

trial registrationEudraCT (2013-005326-38).

Indexed as

DigitoxinHeart FailureAgedChronic DiseaseDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedStroke VolumeTreatment OutcomeDigitoxinCardiac glycosidesDigitoxinHeart failureHFrEFRandomized clinical trial

Identifiers

PMID40389288
PMCPMC12370576

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.