Scientists from the University of Leeds found that some heart attack patients may not benefit from heart drug beta blockers.
They found that heart attack patients who did not have heart failure did not live any longer after being given beta blockers—yet around 95% of patients who fall into this category end up on the medication.
The research raises the possibility that the drugs are being overprescribed and may burden patients.
The research is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and was conducted by Dr. Marlous Hall et al.
Beta-blockers are a powerful group of medicines that decrease the activity of the heart and lower blood pressure.
They are commonly prescribed after a heart attack, but they can have unwanted side effects for some patients such as dizziness and tiredness.
Not all people who have their first heart attack have heart failure. Patients with heart attack and heart failure need to be on beta blockers because the drugs help the damaged heart to work more effectively.
In the study, the team looked at patients who had a heart attack but did not suffer heart failure—a complication of a heart attack where the heart muscle is damaged and ceases to function properly.
They analyzed data from more than 179,000 patients who had a heart attack without heart failure.
When the researchers compared death rates within a year of the patients suffering a heart attack, they found no difference between those who’d been prescribed the drugs and those who had not.
The team says there is uncertainty in the evidence as to the benefit of beta-blockers for patients with heart attack and who do not have heart failure.
This study suggests that there may be no mortality advantage associated with the prescription of beta-blockers for patients with heart attack and no heart failure.
If you care about heart attack, please read studies about drug combo that can halve the risk of heart attack, and stroke, and this antioxidant drug may protect against stroke and heart attack.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a healthy diet that could prevent recurrent heart attacks and results showing scientists find the key to curing COVID-19.
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