Beta blockers are routinely given to heart patients, especially after they’ve suffered a heart attack—but the drugs could be doing more harm than good.
They can cause a heart attack or heart failure that needs hospital care—and can even kill the person, a new study has discovered.
The drugs should be prescribed only to those whose heart has been damaged from a heart attack, say researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Although the drugs have been given to heart patients for 40 years, the researchers—part of the REBOOT study—have discovered they are far from safe, especially for women. They can cause a range of serious side effects, including fatigue, bradycardia (low heart rate), and sexual dysfunction. But they also cause the heart problems they are supposed to prevent.
The study findings could change clinical practice, and a new drug—such as a polypill—may instead be given to heart patients. A polypill is a combination of three drugs—aspirin, ramipril, an ACE inhibitor to reduce blood pressure, and atorvastatin, a statin – reduces cardiovascular events by 33 percent in patients treated after a heart attack, one study found.
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