Table 2 Characteristics of included studies

Study ID	Comparison	Number of participants	Primary outcome	Follow-up, months
AREA-CHF 2009²⁰	Canrenone Placebo	231 236	Change in LV diastolic volume	12
BEST 2003²¹	Bucindolol Placebo	114 112	Death and heart failure hospitalisation composite	19
Borghi 2013²²	Ramipril Zofenopril	73 102	Survival	73±14
CARNEBI 2013²³	Carvedilol Bisoprolol Nebivolol	61 crossover	NYHA class, biochemistry, and physiological testing	6 (2 x 3 crossover)
CELICARD 2000²⁴	Celiprolol Placebo	62 62	Functional score — Goldman score	12
CHARM Added 2003²⁵	Candesartan Placebo	1011 1014	Cardiovascular death or unplanned hospital admissions for worsening CHF	34
CHARM Alternative 2003²⁶	Candesartan Placebo	1273 1271	Cardiovascular death or unplanned hospital admissions for worsening CHF	41
CIBIS 1994²⁷	Bisoprolol Placebo	320 321	All-cause mortality	23
CIBIS 1999²⁸	Bisoprolol Placebo	1327 1320	All-cause mortality	16
Cicoira 2002²⁹	Spironolactone Placebo	54 52	Physiological or functional improvement	12
Cohn 2001³⁰	Valsartan Placebo	2511 2499	All-cause mortality, and combined mortality and morbidity	23
Colucci 1996³¹	Carvedilol Placebo	232 134	Disease progression and death composite	12
COMET 2003³²	Carvedilol Metoprolol	1511 1518	All-cause mortality	58
Dalla-Volta 1999³³	Delapril Enalapril	88 91	Physiological or functional improvement	12
ELITE II 2000³⁴	Losartan Captopril	1578 1574	All-cause mortality	18
Kum 2008³⁵	Add on Irbesartan Placebo	50 50	6MHW, Minnesota (QoL), peak exercise capacity on treadmill	12
Liu 2014³⁶	Metoprolol Conventional therapy	77 77	NYHA class, LVESD, LVEDD, LVEF, 6-min walking distance, medication safety	6
MAIN CHF II 2014³⁷	Bisoprolol Carvedilol	21 14	Clinical and functional status, mortality rate	8
MERIT-HF 1999⁴⁸	Metoprolol CR Placebo	1990 2001	All-cause mortality	12
Munich 1991³⁸	Captopril Placebo	83 87	Cardiovascular-cause mortality	33
Pitt 1999⁹	Spironolactone Placebo	822 841	All-cause mortality	24
Riegger 1999³⁹	Candesartan 4 mg Candesartan 8 mg Candesartan 16 mg Placebo	211 208 212 213	Increase in exercise tolerance, reduction in NYHA class	3
SENIORS 2005⁴⁰	Nevovitol Placebo	1067 1061	All-cause mortality and time to first CVD admission	21
SOLVD 1991⁴¹	Enalapril Placebo	1285 1284	Clinical and functional status, mortality rate	41.4
SOLVD 1992⁴²	Enalapril Placebo	2111 2117	Clinical and functional status, mortality rate	37.4
Sturm 2000⁴³	Atenolol Placebo	51 49	Worsening heart failure or death	24
US Carvedilol 2001⁴⁴	Carvedilol Placebo	Black: 127 Not Black: 569 Black: 90 Not Black: 308	Ethnicity (self-reported), ejection fraction, clinical status, and major clinical events	15
Yodfat 1991⁴⁵	Captopril Placebo	41 43	Functional status	3
Zannad 1998⁴⁶	Fosinopril Placebo	122 132	Cardiovascular mortality and event-free survival	12
Zannad 2011⁴⁷	Eplenerone Placebo	1364 1373	Cardiovascular mortality and event-free survival	21

6MHW = 6-minute hall walk. CHF = congestive heart failure. CVD = cardiovascular disease. LV = left ventricular. LVEDD = left ventricular end-diastolic diameter. LVEF = left ventricular ejection fraction. LVESD = left ventricular end-systolic diameter. NYHA = New York Heart Association. QOL = quality of life.