A new study from the University of Bologna has found that a common treatment for high blood pressure may not work the same way for men and women.
Specifically, the research shows that women who take beta-blockers—a type of medicine often used to control high blood pressure—may be at greater risk of developing heart failure than men with similar health conditions.
The study was published in the journal Hypertension and focused on people with high blood pressure who had never been diagnosed with heart disease before.
The researchers looked at what happened to these individuals if they later experienced a serious heart event known as acute coronary syndrome, which includes problems like sudden chest pain or heart attacks caused by reduced blood flow to the heart.
They studied data from nearly 14,000 adults across 12 European countries. Everyone in the study had high blood pressure but no history of heart disease. Some of the participants were taking beta-blockers, and the researchers looked at how the outcomes differed between men and women.
One of the most striking findings was that women taking beta-blockers were nearly 5% more likely than men to be hospitalized with heart failure after having an acute coronary syndrome.
This is a serious issue because once heart failure develops, the risk of dying goes up dramatically. In fact, the study found that people with heart failure were about seven times more likely to die than those who had a heart attack without developing heart failure.
The risk was especially high for women who had a specific kind of heart attack called a STEMI, or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. This is one of the most severe types of heart attacks, caused by a complete blockage in one of the heart’s arteries.
Among these women, the chances of developing heart failure were 6.1% higher than for men who had the same kind of heart attack.
Interestingly, the researchers found that men and women who were not taking beta-blockers had about the same risk of developing heart failure. This suggests that the increased risk in women may be linked to the medication itself, not just the heart condition.
Although this study did not focus on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), it did point out that HRT might interact with beta-blockers in ways that could raise the risk of heart failure. This could be an important area for future research.
Doctors often prescribe beta-blockers to people with high blood pressure to help prevent heart attacks and other problems. But this study shows that the same treatment may not be equally safe for everyone. It highlights the need for more personalized medical care, especially for women who have not had heart problems before but are at risk due to high blood pressure.
The researchers stress that lifestyle changes like a healthy diet, regular exercise, and quitting smoking remain key ways to manage high blood pressure and lower the risk of heart disease. They also encourage more studies to look into how men and women respond differently to common treatments.
This new research reminds us that medical care shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. Understanding how medications affect people differently based on gender can help doctors choose the safest and most effective treatments for every patient.
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