According to new new studies, a class of drug class called beta-blockers-used as a first-line treatment after a heart attack-is not useful for most patients and can contribute to higher risk of some women’s hospitalization and death, but not for men.
“These conclusions will change all international clinical recommendations on the use of beta -blockers for men and women and should encourage a long -term, gender specific approach to treating cardiovascular disease,‘ Said senior study author dr. Valentin Fuster, President of Mount Fuster Heart Heart Hospital and Director General of the National Cardiovascular Research Center in Madrid.
According to a study published in the European Heart Journal, the European Heart Journal, and that women with heart attacks were even prone to heart attacks, which were treated with beta-blockers, were admitted to heart failure-and almost three times more dying-compared to women who were not given a medicine.
“This is especially true for women receiving high doses of beta-blockers,” said dr. Borja Ibáñez, Scientific Director of the National Cardiovascular Research Center of Madrid.
“The total number of women in the clinical trial was the highest number ever included in the study of beta-blockers after myocardial infarction (heart attack), so it is a significant discovery,” said Ibázis ibáñez, a cardiologist at the Madrid Jiménez Dazo Foundation Hospital.;
However, the conclusions were applied only to women whose left ventricular ejection fraction exceeds 50%, This is considered a normal function, the study said. The exhaust fraction is a way to measure how well the oxygen -saturated blood is pumped on the left side of the heart throughout the body. For those who were less than 40%after a heart attack, beta -blockers continue to be a standard of care due to their ability to soothe cardiac arrhythmias that can cause a second event.
However, the drug may have unpleasant side effects, said dr. Andrew Freeman, Denner of National Jewish Health Cardiovascular Prevention and Health.
“Medicines can cause low blood pressure, low heart rate, erectile dysfunction, fatigue and mood swings,” Freeman said without a study. “When we take these medicines, we always have to balance the risks compared to the benefits.”
Why would women be more prone to beta -blockers than men?
“It’s not really surprising,” Freeman said. “Gender has much in common with how people respond to medication. In most cases, women have smaller hearts. They are more sensitive to blood pressure medicines. Some may be associated with size, and some may be associated with other factors we still understand.”
In fact, since early cardiac examinations for men, it took a medical school year to find out that heart disease in women manifests itself differently. Usually, men have plaque accumulation in the main arteries and experience more traditional signs of heart attack, such as chest pain. Women are more prone to heart plaque in the heart and may have more unusual symptoms of heart attack such as back pain, indigestion and shortness of breath.
Experts say beta -blockers are a first -line treatment for those who have been experiencing a heart attack for 40 years. – Getty images
Treatment progress reduces the need for beta -blockers
Women’s analysis was a much larger clinical trial called “Reroot”, part-treatment with beta-blockers after myocardial infarction, without reducing the displacement fraction-8,505 men and women treated for heart attacks in 109 hospitals in Spain and Italy for almost four years.
The results of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and also introduced the European Congress Society.
None of the patients in the study of the left ventricular ejection was not less than 40%, which is a sign of potential heart failure.
“We have not found any benefit to the use of beta-blockers for men or women with canned heart function after a heart attack, despite the fact that it is a standard of 40 years of care,” said the former editor-in-chief of the American Cardiology College magazine and former president of the American Heart Association and the World Health Federation.
It is likely that medication, such as the fact that patients arrive at the hospital, use stent and blood thinners immediately. In fact, in most men and women who have experienced heart attacks today, exhaust fractions are more than 50%, Ibáñez said.
“However, about 80% of patients in the US, Europe and Asia are currently being treated with beta-blockers because medical guidelines still recommend them,” he said. “Although we often check new drugs, it is much less common to question the constant need for older treatments.”
Although the study did not find any need to use beta -blockers for people with left ventricular ejection fraction exceeding 50% after a heart attack, a separate meta -analysis of 1,885 patients on Saturday in Lancet in Lancet was useful for those with 40% to 50%.
“This subgroup was beneficial to the usual use of beta-blockers,” Ibáñez said, who was also co-author of the document. “We found that the original final point decreased by about 25 percent.
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