Unnecessary use of beta-blockers after a heart attack

Half of all patients discharged from hospital after a heart attack are treated with beta-blockers unnecessarily. This is according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. „I am convinced that this will influence future practice“, says Tomas Jernberg, Professor at Karolinska Institutet and lead researcher of the study.

The project was led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Lund University and Uppsala University. More than 5,000 patients at 45 hospitals in Sweden, Estonia and New Zealand who suffered a small heart attack were randomized to either receive or not receive beta-blockers at discharge. The study began in September 2017 and patients were followed up until November 2023, by which time 7.9 percent of those receiving beta-blockers had the primary outcome of death or a new heart attack, compared to 8.3 percent of those not receiving beta-blockers. This difference is not statistically significant. Nor was there any difference between the groups in the secondary outcomes. The result means that, unusually, the drug treatment becomes simpler and cheaper for all parties, says Tomas Jernberg.

---

Publication: „Beta-blockers after Myocardial Infarction and Preserved Ejection Fraction“ Troels Yndigegn, Bertil Lindahl, Katarina Mars, Joakim Alfredsson, Jocelyne Benatar, Lisa Brandin, David Erlinge, Ola Hallen, Claes Held, Patrik Hjalmarsson, Pelle Johansson, Patric Karlström, Thomas Kellerth, Toomas Marandi, Annica Ravn-Fischer, Johan Sundström, Ollie Östlund, Robin Hofmann, Tomas Jernberg. New England Journal of Medicine, online April 7, 2024, doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa240147.