Beta blockers are a common treatment for a number of heart conditions, but the majority of patients aren’t getting its benefits and it may even be detrimental for some
A groundbreaking study could compel doctors to reconsider decades-old treatment protocols for heart patients, as research suggests a widely-prescribed medication may actually cause more damage than benefit. The research, published in the European Heart Journal, reveals that beta blockers prove ineffective for most patients, with women experiencing particularly alarming outcomes.
Beta blockers are routinely prescribed to manage various cardiac conditions, including angina, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, heart attacks and elevated blood pressure. Yet the study discovered that women treated with these tablets who sustained minimal heart damage following a heart attack faced substantially higher risks of experiencing another cardiac event or requiring hospitalisation for heart failure later on.
Men did not encounter this same danger. These women were also three times more prone to death compared to women who weren’t administered the medication.
Those receiving higher dosages confronted even grimmer prospects, according to lead researcher Dr Borja Ibanez, who told CNN: “This was especially true for women receiving high doses of beta-blockers.
“The total number of women in the clinical trial was the largest ever included in a study testing beta-blockers after myocardial infarction (heart attack), so this is a significant finding.”
These findings exclusively concerned women with healthy heart function, possessing a left ventricular ejection fraction exceeding 50%. This measurement determines how effectively the heart’s left chamber circulates blood throughout the body.
Patients who score below 40% following a heart attack are routinely given beta blockers to prevent dangerous heart rhythm problems that might cause another cardiac episode.
The research also discovered “no evidence of benefit” from beta blockers amongst all participants scoring above 40%. Dr Ibanez said: “There remains reasonable uncertainty about their benefit,” particularly in patients with normal heart function.
He added: “Some 80% of patients in the US, Europe and Asia are treated with beta-blockers because medical guidelines still recommend them. While we often test new drugs, it’s much less common to rigorously question the continued need for older treatments.”
He emphasised that in patients with mildly impaired heart function: “We can now state with confidence that beta-blockers are beneficial”. Dr Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, told CNN that the gender disparity wasn’t all that surprising.
The expert, who wasn’t involved in the study, said: “Gender has a lot to do with how people respond to medication. In many cases, women have smaller hearts. They’re more sensitive to blood pressure medications. Some of that may have to do with size, and some may have to do with other factors we have yet to fully understand.”
Most early research on the human heart focused on male bodies and it took scientists years to discover that women could have different symptoms for both heart disease and heart attacks. For instance, while men often experience the well-known symptoms of a heart attack like chest pain, women may experience less obvious signs such as back pain, indigestion or shortness of breath.