Beta-Blocker Use Linked to Lower Risk for COPD Hospitalization

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

Use of beta-blockers is associated with reduced risk for hospitalization for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to an observational study in EClinicalMedicine.

Using Danish registries, researchers followed 300,000 adults who were prescribed beta-blockers for more than 6 months and 1 million users of other antihypertensive medications. Those with a prior COPD hospitalization were excluded.

Beta-blocker users had a significantly lower rate of COPD hospitalization, compared with patients who used other antihypertensive drugs (649 vs. 919 cases per 100,000 person-years). This benefit was not seen in patients with diabetes, however. Overall, beta-blocker use was also associated with lower all-cause and COPD mortality.

The authors write that their results advocate for "changes in the present hesitation of treatment of hypertension with beta-blockers in patients at risk of or with concomitant COPD."