Beta-Blockers After Heart Attack: Benefit Questioned, Especially for Women
Millions take beta-blockers following a heart attack, believing thay protect their heart. However, recent research casts doubt on this long-held practice, suggesting the drugs may offer little benefit and could even be harmful, particularly for women.
Beta-blockers work by slowing heart rate and lowering blood pressure, reducing the heart’s oxygen demand and aiding recovery. They’ve been a standard treatment for decades. But improvements in heart attack care – including faster access to procedures like stenting and medications like statins – mean hearts now recover more effectively than when beta-blockers were first studied.
A large study conducted by scientists in Spain and Italy followed 8,438 heart attack survivors across 109 hospitals. All participants had a reasonably good heart pumping function (left ventricular ejection fraction over 40%). Half received beta-blockers in addition to standard care, while the other half did not.
after nearly four years, researchers found no significant difference between the two groups in rates of second heart attacks, hospitalizations, or death. This suggests beta-blockers provided no demonstrable benefit for this group of patients.Though, the study revealed a concerning trend when researchers analyzed the data specifically for the 1,627 women involved. women in the study were, on average, older, had more existing health conditions, and were less likely to receive complete standard therapy. Beta-blockers were actually detrimental for thes women, increasing their risk of complications and death, especially those receiving higher doses who had already begun to recover. this negative effect was not observed in men.
Dr. Borja Ibáñez, a cardiologist involved in the research, stresses that beta-blockers remain valuable for conditions like irregular heartbeats and high blood pressure. However, he emphasizes that the decision to use them after a heart attack should be made on a much more individual basis, carefully considering the patient’s specific circumstances – and particularly, their gender.
