Two new studies have discovered that widely prescribed beta blockers, a class of medication commonly used to treat heart issues, may not be suitable therapies for some patients with strong heart function. One study, published in Heart, found that people who suffered a heart attack but did not develop heart failure or dysfunction, did not experience improved cardiovascular outcomes with long-term use of beta blockers.
According to STAT News, the second study, published Wednesday in JACC: Heart Failure, showed that using beta blockers as a treatment for people with heart failure who had higher ejection fraction, or squeezing power, was associated with a greater risk of hospitalization.
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Researchers suggested that beta blockers, which cause the heart to beat more slowly, have been prescribed based on research and evidence from decades ago, and stressed the need for more current studies. According to the Cleveland Clinic, beta blockers are a class of medicines commonly used to treat a wide range of problems involving the heart and circulatory system.
Dr. Lakshmi Sridharan, as assistant professor in the Division of Cardiology at Emory University, who specializes in advanced heart failure and transplantation, says that the new research is “all pointing to a similar direction that not all patients that we used to historically reflexively put on beta blockers benefit from beta blockers.” She added, “Now is the time to be personalized and individualized in our decision-making” on patients’ treatment plans.
In the Heart study, researchers in Sweden analyzed data on 43,000 adults who suffered a heart attack but didn’t have heart failure or pumping dysfunction, says STAT News. About 79% of these patients were put on beta blockers, and after a median follow up of 4.5 years, the researchers found no difference in the risk for death or cardiovascular incidents between patients who were and weren’t on beta blockers.
Swedish cardiologist Dr. Gorav Batra, the senior author of the study, suggested that the care and treatment of people with heart attacks has improved so much over the past three decades that patients who suffer less injury to their heart muscle may not need beta blockers.
The second study looked at 400,000 Americans over the age of 65 who had heart failure with mildly reduced or normal squeezing function ─ an ejection fraction greater than 40%. While previous research has shown that beta blockers do help those with less than 40% squeezing function, this study found that for people with a 60% or greater squeezing function, beta blockers were linked to higher hospitalization rates.
Dr. Michelle Kittleson, the director of education in heart failure and transplantation at the Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai, said that the two new studies highlight the importance of reviewing medications for patients and justifying their need. Beta blockers have been around for a long time and until now there hasn’t been a lot of research into their benefits for certain groups of heart patients.
“That’s inertia in medicine—it’s very hard to stop a medicine, it’s very hard to say no, it’s very hard to backtrack,” she said. “It takes a lot of activation energy to do a deep dive and figure out if something is needed.”
Lynn C. Allison ✉
Lynn C. Allison, a Newsmax health reporter, is an award-winning medical journalist and author of more than 30 self-help books.
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