The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7309 p108
24 July 2004

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Beta-blockers for heart failure

Concerns about prescribing beta-blockers for patients with heart failure with systolic dysfunction because of cardiovascular adverse effects may be alleviated by new research.

Researchers combined results from nine individual trials and found that increases in risk of hypotension, dizziness and bradycardia were small. Fewer patients were withdrawn from beta-blocker therapy (16 per cent) than from placebo (18 per cent) and beta-blocker therapy was associated with a 27 per cent relative reduction in all-cause mortality (Archives of Internal Medicine 2004;164:1389).