Brewster LM, et al. - Researchers assessed the guideline-recommended use of combined hydralazine and isosorbide dinitrate added to conventional therapy in heart failure patients of African ancestry in Europe and the potential impact of gaps in implementation on mortality in a cross-European survey. Analysis of prescription drug registration and utilization databases and population statistics was performed. According to the survey findings, both hydralazine and isosorbide dinitrate were available for oral use only in the UK and the Netherlands (countries with major African ancestry populations), aside from Norway, Sweden, and Finland, among 25 European nations surveyed. In Europe, life-saving, guideline-recommended adjunctive therapy of hydralazine and isosorbide dinitrate was seldom used in heart failure patients of African ancestry. In order to attenuate excess mortality in this patient population, urgently overcoming this major evidence-practice gap is required.