Baseline characteristics and results after 6 months of placebo and after 6 months of bisoprolol
| Baseline | Placebo | Bisoprolol | Effect | |
| Subjects | 18 | 18 | 17 | |
| Age at inclusion years | 48±16 | |||
| Male/females | 1/17 | 1/17 | 1/16 | |
| NYHA functional class | ||||
| II | 9 | 9 | 9 | |
| III | 9 | 9 | 8 | |
| PAH specific therapy | ||||
| Mono | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| Dual | 11 | 11 | 11 | |
| Triple | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| Study medication dosage tablets | 2.9±1.4 | 1.9±1.3 | ||
| Heart rate beats·min−1 | 79±11 | 81±12 | 65±9 | −17 (p=0.0001)*** |
| Systolic tension mmHg | 109±17 | 109±14 | 109±13 | 0.2 (p=0.961) |
| Diastolic tension mmHg | 66±8 | 64±8 | 61±7 | −5.6 (p=0.024)* |
| mPAP mmHg | 52±16 | 50±13 | 54±17 | 3 (p=0.450) |
| RAP mmHg | 6±4 | 6±3 | 9±5 | 2 (p=0.082) |
| PAWP mmHg | 8±3 | 7±2 | 9±3 | 3 (p=0.008)* |
| PVR dyn·s·cm−5 | 568±217 | 607±223 | 676±274 | 94 (p=0.192) |
| Cardiac index L·min−1·m−2 | 3.2±0.7 | 3.4±0.9 | 2.9±0.8 | −0.5 (p=0.015)* |
| SvO2 % | 71±9 | 67±9 | 67±13 | −0.8 (p=0.739) |
| RVEDV mL | 159±83 | 169±96 | 167±105 | −4.1 (p=0.498) |
| RVESV mL | 103±89 | 110±102 | 105±109 | −7.0 (p=0.236) |
| RVEF % | 42±18 | 42±18 | 46±17 | 3 (p=0.140) |
| LVEDV mL | 98±15 | 99±22 | 99±18 | −0.8 (p=0.838) |
| LVESV mL | 37±17 | 36±17 | 34±16 | −2.7 (p=0.352) |
| LVEF % | 62±13 | 62±12 | 66±11 | 7 (p=0.016)* |
| NT-proBNP ng·L−1 | 1016 | 1259 | 1742 | 635 (p=0.107) |
| Body weight kg | 67 | 67 | 68 | −0.3 (p=0.693) |
| Sodium mmol·L−1 | 140±2 | 140±2 | 139±2 | −0.8 (p=0.209) |
| Loop diuretics mg of furosemide or equivalent# | 49±45 | 60±61 | 78±120 | 21 (p=0.242) |
| Noradrenaline nmol·L−1 | 5.2±3.1 | 4.2±2.5 | 5.8±2.9 | 0.20 (p=0.641) |
| Adrenaline nmol·L−1 | 0.2±0.2 | 0.3±0.5 | 0.2±0.1 | −0.01 (p=0.877) |
| Dopamine nmol·L−1 | 0.1±0.3 | 0.2±0.4 | 0.1±0.2 | −0.11 (p=0.215) |
| SDNN ms | 81±29 | 84±35 | 85±27 | 3 (p=0.703) |
| SDANN ms | 80.5±31.0 | 78.2±31.6 | 78.3±25.3 | 3.9 (p=0.648) |
| 6MWD m | −27 (p=0.055) | |||
| V′O2max L·min−1·kg−1 | 14.8±4.5 | 13.8±5.2 | 14.6±4.5 | −0.2 (p=0.779) |
| RV power ×104 mL·mmHg·min−1 | 23±7 | 23±8 | 21±5 | −0.827 (p=0.69) |
| KmonoRV min−1 | 0.08±0.02 | 0.07±0.01 | 0.06±0.01 | −0.01 (p=0.021)* |
| WMIRV ×104 mL·mmHg·min−2 | 280±87 | 295±84 | 326±96 | 0.4 (p=0.242) |
| WMILV ×104 mL·mmHg·min−2 | 7.0±2.7 | 6.8±1.7 | 7.4±2.2 | 0.83 (p=0.20) |
| MLHFQ points | 34±26 | 31±24 | 30±23 | 0.4 (0.908) |
Data are presented as n, mean±sd or the effect of 6 months of bisoprolol treatment compared with 6 months of placebo treatment calculated with a linear mixed model and corrected for dosage of study medication. NYHA: New York Heart Association; PAH: pulmonary arterial hypertension; mPAP: mean pulmonary arterial pressure; RAP: right atrial pressure; PAWP: pulmonary artery wedge pressure; PVR: pulmonary vascular resistance; SvO2: mixed venous oxygen saturation; RVEDV: right ventricular end diastolic volume; RVESV: right ventricular end systolic volume; RVEF: right ventricular ejection fraction; LVEDV: left ventricular end diastolic volume; LVESV: left ventricular end systolic volume; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction; NT-proBNP: N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide; SDNN: standard deviation of all normal RR intervals in a 24-h ECG; SDANN: standard deviation of the average normal RR intervals for all 288 5-min segments of a 24-h ECG recording; 6MWD: 6-min walking distance; V′O2max: maximal oxygen uptake per kg; RV: right ventricular; RV power: right ventricular power output; KmonoRV: rate of 11C-acetate clearance determined by mono-exponential curve fitting; WMI: work myocardial index; LV: left ventricular; MLHFQ: Minnesota living with heart failure questionnaire. #: 1 mg bumetanide is calculated as 40 mg furosemide. *: p<0.05; ***: p<0.001.