β-Blockers to Prevent Heart Failure in Hypertensive Patients?

Heart failure (HF) is an important complication of hypertensive heart disease, and β-blockers often are used to treat patients with clinical HF. But, in patients with hypertension, do β-blockers confer as much protection against incident HF as do other classes of antihypertensives? This meta-analysis involved 12 randomized trials (>112,000 patients; at least 1 year of follow-up data on new-onset HF reported in each trial) in which researchers evaluated β-blockers as first-line antihypertensive agents.

In placebo-controlled studies, β-blockers lowered both blood pressure and HF incidence. In comparison studies, benefits of β-blockers were similar to those seen with other agents (diuretics, angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitors, and calcium…