Smartest Doc
Acute heart failure with accompanying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Should we focus on beta blockers?
Herz, 06/29/2012
Clinical Article
Ege MR et al. – Beta blockers, a proven life–saving therapy in the setting of chronic systolic heart failure (HF), were found to be less frequently prescribed before discharge in the presence of de novo acute heart failure (AHF) with accompanying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Methods- The hospital discharge records of 959 consecutive de novo AHF patients, hospitalized and treated for systolic HF (ejection fraction <45%), were retrospectively reviewed in three cardiovascular institutions.
- The presence of accompanying COPD was associated with significantly lower prescription of beta blockers before discharge (p<0.001).
- Furthermore, with regard to the type of beta blocker, patients with accompanying COPD were less frequently prescribed nonselective beta blockers (29% vs. 48%, p<0.001).
- The presence of accompanying COPD among AHF patients increased the risk of omitting (not prescribing) beta blockers before discharge by a factor of 1.785.
