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Friday, October 5, 2012

Beta Blockers May Not Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes In Some Patients.


On its website, ABC News Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (10/3) reports that a study Share to FacebookShare to Twitter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that "beta-blocker pills don't prevent heart attacks, strokes or cardiac deaths in patients with heart disease, but doctors are torn over whether there's enough in the study to make them want to stop prescribing the drugs."
        Forbes Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (10/3, Husten) reports that "Sriapl Bangalore and colleagues analyzed data from 44,708 patients enrolled in the Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH registry), 31% of whom had a prior MI, 27% of whom had documented CAD without MI, and 42% of whom only had CAD risk factors." Participants "who received beta blockers were compared with matched controls and were followed for a median of 44 months."
        HealthDay Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (10/3, Reinberg) reports, "For those with heart disease or who had a heart attack, the researchers found no difference between those taking beta blockers and those not taking them when it came to death, heart attack or stroke. The rates for being hospitalized for a cardiac procedure, however, were higher among those taking beta blockers." Meanwhile, "among patients who had risk factors for heart disease, those taking beta blockers were at higher risk for dying or being hospitalized for a cardiac procedure, compared to those not taking them, the researchers noted."
        HeartWire Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (10/3, Nainggolan) reports, "Bangalore says there is somewhat of a disconnect between what current guidelines recommend-which is broadly in line with what he and his colleagues found-and what doctors on the ground are actually doing."
        MedPage Today Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (10/3, Kaiser) reports that the researchers "pointed out that their findings reflect secondary prevention guidelines from the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology, which give short-term beta-blocker therapy (up to three years after MI) a class I recommendation, but longer-term therapy gets a class IIa recommendation." Also covering the story areWebMD Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (10/3, DeNoon) and Reuters Share to FacebookShare to Twitter (10/3, Joelving).

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