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Heart attack patients are unnecessarily taking beta-blockers despite no clear benefit, a landmark trial has concluded.

Daily pills, which can cause fatigue, nausea, and even sexual dysfunction, are offered to the majority of patients who suffer from a heart attack.

Around 60,000 people in the UK are prescribed beta-blockers each year, many of whom will continue to take them for the rest of their lives.

However, one trial found that for about half of patients, it did not reduce the risk of death or further heart attacks.

Beta blockers remain the standard treatment provided to NHS heart attack patients (stock image)

Beta blockers remain the standard treatment provided to NHS heart attack patients (stock image)

Approximately 60,000 people in the UK are prescribed beta blockers each year, and many end up taking them for the rest of their lives (stock image)

Approximately 60,000 people in the UK are prescribed beta blockers each year, and many end up taking them for the rest of their lives (stock image)

Experts say the findings could change the way heart attack patients are treated in the NHS and free tens of thousands of people from unpleasant side effects.

Dr Malcolm Finlay, consultant cardiologist at Barts Heart Center in London, said: “Beta-blockers remain the standard of care for almost everyone on the NHS who has a heart attack.”

“If we can safely discharge patients, thousands of people could avoid side effects.”

When beta-blockers were first administered in the 1960s, they were considered one of the most effective ways to prevent patients from having another seizure.

This pill blocks the effects of hormones such as adrenaline, which are known to increase heart rate and blood pressure. This reduces the load on the heart and helps the organ recover after the stress of an attack.

But over the past 30 years, more effective heart attack treatments have emerged, including coronary angioplasty, which involves surgically inserting a balloon into a blocked artery to reopen it. This is usually followed by the insertion of a stent, which is a small mesh tube that holds the artery open.

Despite these advances, beta blockers remain the standard treatment provided to NHS heart attack patients.

A groundbreaking study was announced yesterday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, showing that pills are ineffective for many people. A recent trial of 5,000 heart attack patients from 45 countries concluded that the only patients who benefit from beta-blockers are those with heart failure, an incurable disease in which the heart effectively stops pumping. .

However, only about 50% of heart attack patients have this condition.

Dr. Troels Indgen, an interventional cardiologist at Lund University in Sweden and an author of the study, said: “For patients without signs of heart failure, this study shows that routine use of beta-blockers may be beneficial. “This proves that there is no sign that this is the case.”

Beta-blockers are used to treat many other health conditions, such as angina (chest pain caused by narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the heart) and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat.

There is no suggestion that the pill is an ineffective treatment for these other heart conditions.

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