Beta-blockers tied to fewer deaths in selected heart attack patients
Major heart complications occurred in 20.9% of patients taking beta-blockers compared with 25.4% without them over a median follow-up of 998 days.
Limit: The findings concern patients aged 70 and older, not other patient groups
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
A nationwide observational study followed 2,566 patients aged 70 and older with preserved heart pumping function after an artery-opening procedure for an acute heart attack. Of these, 2,063 received beta-blockers and 503 did not.
Over a median follow-up of 998 days, the combined outcome occurred in 20.9% of patients receiving beta-blockers and 25.4% without them. It included heart-related death, another heart attack, another artery-opening procedure, heart failure readmission, stroke or probable or definite blood clots in stents, tubes that hold arteries open. Deaths from any cause occurred in 12.9% versus 21.5%, and heart-related deaths in 7.7% versus 13.1%, respectively. The groups showed no significant differences in the other individual outcomes. Among patients aged 80 and older, event rates were numerically lower with beta-blockers, but differences were not statistically significant.
Why it matters
The study addressed an unresolved question in heart care in later life: whether beta-blockers benefit patients aged 70 and older with preserved heart pumping function after an artery-opening procedure for an acute heart attack.
Caveats
This observational registry could not establish whether beta-blockers caused the differences; unmeasured differences between patients could account for the associations. The findings concern patients aged 70 and older with preserved heart pumping function after an artery-opening procedure for an acute heart attack, not other patient groups.
The paper
Pusan National University Hospital; Gwangju Veterans Hospital
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026, Open access
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
