However it is unknown whether people without heart failure gain much from taking beta blockers. There is good evidence that beta blockers are effective for patients who have had a heart attack and also have heart failure or signs that the left chamber (ventricle) of their heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly.įor this reason, people with heart failure or left ventricular dysfunction are usually advised to continue taking beta blockers long term. This was a prospective cohort study looking at whether taking beta blockers reduced mortality in the year following heart attack for people without heart failure or systolic dysfunction (which is a significant risk factor for heart failure but does not usually cause any symptoms).īeta blockers are among the recommended treatments for people who've had a heart attack. However, the dramatic headline of the Mail Online claiming beta blockers "do more harm than good" is unproven as the study did not look at negative outcomes of taking beta blockers. Generally the media reported the story accurately. The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American College of Cardiology on an open-access basis, meaning it is freely available online. It was funded by the British Heart Foundation. The study was carried out by researchers from multiple UK institutions including the University of Leeds, University of Edinburgh, University College London, Bart's Heart Centre London and York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as well as institutions in Sweden, France and Spain.
If you have been prescribed beta-blockers you should not stop taking them without first talking to your GP. Beta blockers might still have benefits for patients, aside from mortality.
#Beta blockers ok to take as needed trial#
However, any future recommendations would need to consider not only this study but other clinical trial evidence. The recommendations for people without heart failure may be reviewed in future guideline updates.
And those with heart failure are advised to continue treatment indefinitely. UK medical guidelines recommend that all people who have had a heart attack take beta blockers for at least one year. 11%), the researchers concluded that beta blockers did not affect risk of death once other risk factors and medications were taken into consideration.
Though there were fewer deaths one year later among people prescribed beta blockers (5% vs. The study compared mortality rates between those who were prescribed beta blockers and those who weren't when they were discharged from hospital. The researchers wanted to see if beta-blockers improved health outcomes in this set of patients. They are often used in people who have heart failure or are thought to be at risk of heart failure.Ī new study has collected data from England and Wales from more than 170,000 people who had a heart attack but did not have heart failure. "Many patients given beta blockers after a heart attack may not benefit from being on the drugs, suggesting they may be being overprescribed," The Guardian reports.īeta-blockers are drugs used to regulate the heart by making it beat more slowly and with less force.
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