Göteborg Metoprolol Trial: mortality and causes of death.

During the 3-month blind treatment period there were 40 deaths in the metoprolol group compared with 62 deaths in the placebo group (p = 0.024). During the first year (after 3 months the 2 groups were treated similarly) there were 64 deaths in the metoprolol group vs 93 in the placebo group (p = 0.017) and during 2 years 92 patients died in the metoprolol group vs 120 in the placebo group (p = 0.043). The relative incidence of different causes of death did not differ significantly between the 2 treatment groups, indicating that metoprolol reduced all causes of death to the same extent as its effect on overall mortality.