A study released that beta blockers, which have been the standard treatment for heart attacks for the past 40 years, may not help patients who have had them and may even increase the risk of mortality for some women. The study also advocated for a change in the paradigm of routine treatment.

For a variety of cardiac disorders, including heart attacks, beta blockers are often prescribed. For patients who have experienced a simple myocardial infarction and have retained cardiac function, it offers no clinical benefit.

According to a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Madrid and concurrently published in the European Heart Journal and The New England Journal of Medicine, women on beta blockers were more likely than those not on the medication to die, have a heart attack, or be admitted to the hospital due to heart failure.

Men, however, were not at this elevated risk. According to Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital President and principal investigator Valentin Fuster, “the study will reshape all international clinical guidelines.”

“Beta blockers are being used to discharge over 80% of patients with simple myocardial infarction. Principal investigator Borja Ibanez, Scientific Director of Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) in Spain, stated that the results are among the most important developments in heart attack treatment in decades.

Beta blockers are generally seen to be safe; however, they can have negative effects, including bradycardia (low heart rate), sexual dysfunction, and weariness.

8,505 participants were included in the global trial from 109 institutions in Italy and Spain. Following hospital release, participants were randomized to receive beta blockers or not. All other patients were monitored for a median of almost four years and received the current standard of care.

The rates of death, repeated heart attacks, and heart failure did not significantly differ between the two groups, according to the results.

According to a subgroup analysis, adverse events were more common in women receiving beta-blocker treatment. The study’s findings indicate that over the 3.7-year follow-up period, women who received beta-blocker treatment had an absolute risk of death that was 2.7% greater than that of women who did not get beta-blocker treatment.