How Do Beta-Blockers Protect After Myocardial Infarction?
Excerpt
Several large, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials have shown that beta-adrenergic blocking drugs reduce the mortality rate and incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction in the first 2 years after myocardial infarction (1). The most impressive evidence of their benefit comes from the Beta-Blocker Heart Attack Trial (2) and a Norwegian trial with timolol (3). Both studies were analyzed by the intention-to-treat principle, even though dropout rates were substantial (4).
In the Norwegian study (3), 1884 patients were randomly assigned to receive placebo or timolol maleate, 10 mg twice daily, 7 to 28 days after infarction, and continued treatment for an
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Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Grant support: in part by NIH grant HL-22982 and HL-70204 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; grant RR-00645 from the Research Resources Administration; a grant-in-aid from the American Heart Association; a grant from Merck, Sharp & Dohme; and grants from the Winthrop and Chernow Foundations.
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