Efficacy of ivabradine for heart failure

BACKGROUND: Previous clinical trials have reported that ivabradine can effectively treat heart failure (HF). However, no systematic review has explored its efficacy and safety for HF. This systematic review will aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ivabradine for the treatment of patients with HF. METHODS: We will search the literature from the following electronic databases from inception to the January 31, 2019: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, MEDILINE, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Information, and Wanfang Data. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of ivabradine for HF will be fully considered for inclusion without any restrictions. Additionally, grey literature including clinical trial registries, dissertations, and reference lists of included studies, conference abstracts will also be searched. Two researchers will review these literatures, extract data, and assess risk of bias of included RCTs separately. Data will be pooled by either fixed-effects model or random-effects model, and meta-analysis will be conducted if it is appropriate. RESULTS: The primary outcome is all-cause mortality. The secondary outcomes comprise of change in body weight, urine output, change in serum sodium, and all adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study will summary provide up-to-dated evidence for assessing the efficacy and safety of ivabradine for HF. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: It is not necessary to acquire ethical approval for this systematic review, because no individual patient data will be used in this study. The results of this systematic review will be published through peer-reviewed journals. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42019120814.