Göteborg Metoprolol Trial: effects on arrhythmias.

During the initial hospitalization, ventricular fibrillation (VF) developed in 6 metoprolol-treated patients (0.9%) vs 17 placebo-treated patients (2.4%) after inclusion in the study (p = 0.035). There were 6 episodes of VF in the metoprolol group compared with 41 episodes in the placebo group (p less than 0.001). During the same period, 14 metoprolol-treated patients had treated ventricular tachycardia vs 26 placebo-treated patients (p = 0.076). Similar favorable results were found when the incidence of severe ventricular arrhythmias during the first rehospitalization within the 3-month double-blind treatment period was analyzed.