Limited benefit for beta blockers in combo therapy

In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers at Monash University in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and others showed that beta blockers provided no additional survival benefit for heart attack survivors when taken in combination with two other recommended drugs.

The researchers analyzed adherence and mortality rates of 90,869 Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older who were prescribed angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) plus statins and beta blockers after hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction (MI). The researchers found only 49% of patients adhered to all three therapies as prescribed, and that there was no significant difference in the one-year mortality rate for patients who took all three drugs as prescribed compared to patients who adhered to their ACE inhibitor/ARB and statin but not their beta blocker (9.3% vs. 9.1%). Patients not taking any of the three medicines as prescribed had a one-year mortality rate of 14.3%...