Beta blockers no help for some heart patients

Many patients given beta blockers after a heart attack may not benefit from being on the drugs, suggesting they may be being over-prescribed, researchers said.

UK medical guidelines recommend all people who have had a heart attack should be put on beta blockers, which are medicines that reduce the activity of the heart and lower blood pressure.

They are necessary for people who have had a heart attack with heart failure, a complication in which the heart muscle is damaged and stops working properly, as they help the heart work more effectively.

But while around 95 per cent of heart attack patients who did not have heart failure are also given beta blockers, the drugs do not help them live longer, researchers found.

The researchers found no statistical difference in death rates within a year of the patients suffering their heart attack between those who had been prescribed beta blockers and those who had not.