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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Contrary to previous belief, giving beta blockers before surgery may significantly reduce mortality in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new report says.
Doctors have been hesitant about given COPD patients beta blockers before surgery, fearing it could aggravate bronchospasm and worsen airway obstruction. Prior clinical trials, even those done on patients undergoing noncardiac surgery, had yielded inconsistent results.
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This new Netherlands study, done over 10 years on more than 3,000 patients with COPD having vascular surgery, found that those who did not receive beta blockers were twice as likely to die within a month of surgery as those who did (8 percent versus 4 percent). During a follow-up period, 40 percent of COPD patients on beta blockers died, whereas 67 percent who were not on beta blockers died.
The findings are published in the first October issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
"What was observed in the population, beta blockers, especially cardio-selective beta blockers like bisoprolol, are well-tolerated by COPD patients without inducing respiratory adverse effects. More importantly, they improve outcome, by preventing late cardiac events, a major cause for late morbidity and mortality," principle investigator Dr. Don Poldermans of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said in a news release issued by the journal's publisher.
They also found that an intensified dose (more than 25 percent maximum recommended therapeutic dose) of beta blockers was tied to the reduced 30-day mortality, while a low dose of beta blockers (less than 25 percent maximum recommended therapeutic dose) was not. However, the intensified and low dosages were linked to similar reductions in mortality over the long term.
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-- Kevin McKeever
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