Women, beta blockers could be bad for heart

Women taking betablockers for hypertension with no prior history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) have a nearly five per cent higher risk for heart failure than men when they visit hospitals with the acute coronary syndrome, according to new research.

Beta-blockers are medications that reduce high blood pressure and are prescribed for adults with hypertension, a leading cause of CVD. In this study, researchers analysed the effects of betablockers on men and women with hypertension and no history of CVD after presenting with acute coronary syndromes.

Following the incidence of heart failure was recorded to determine if the medication caused different outcomes depending on biological differences.

“Past research on the effects of beta-blockers included a majority of participants who were men, so we sought to examine how sex/gender plays a role in the patient outcomes,” said Raffaele Bugiardini, MD, professor of cardiology at the University of Bologna and lead author of the study.

“Women are historically underrepresented in most clinical studies on hypertension,” Bugiardini added. The

research included data from 13,764 adults in 12 European countries who had hypertension and no prior history of CVD.

Researchers found that among the participants taking beta-blockers: 1) Women had a 4.6 per cent higher rate of heart failure than men when presenting to the hospital with the acute coronary syndrome; 2) The mortality of both men and women with heart failure was approximately seven times that of patients with acute myocardial infarction and no heart failure complications; 3) Women who had ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) were 6.1 per cent more likely to have heart failure than men with STEMI, a serious form of a heart attack in which a coronary artery is completely blocked and a large part of the heart muscle is unable to receive blood; and, 4) Men and women not taking beta-blockers had approximately the same rate of heart failure.