Quality of life among patients taking different doses of beta blockers

Different doses of beta blockers
The study used data on hospital admissions and beta blockers prescription from Swedish patient registers, to investigate possible associations between dose of beta blockers and health-related quality of life in first-time myocardial infarction (MI) patients. A total of 35 601 patients were included in the study which compared patients receiving <50% of the target dose of beta blockers to those receiving a higher dose of beta blockers (≥50% of the target dose). The patients reported health-related quality of life at two time points in the first year following MI.

Over two thirds of the patients were prescribed the lower dose, and whilst these patients were more likely to have lower prevalence of diabetes, previous stroke and hypertension (health variables often associated with cardiovascular disease), the researchers did not find any statistical difference in the health-related quality of life between these patients and those taking ≥50% of the target beta blocker dose.

– Our study indicates that beta blocker dose was not associated with heart patients’ health-related quality of life, says Sophia Humphries. However, we would have to conduct a randomised controlled trial before we can draw any definite conclusions.

Read the full paper ’Association between β-blocker dose and quality of life after myocardial infarction: a real-world Swedish register-linked study’. It is written by Sophia Humphries, John Wallert, Katarina Mars, Claes Held, Robin Hofmann, and Erik M.G. Olsson.