In Europe, there are two million new heart attacks per year and millions of patients are chronically treated with beta-blockers for life. The usefulness of these beta-blockers, in the era of coronary revascularization, is debated due to lack of recent evidence (clinical trial).
The ABYSS multicenter randomized trial, promoted by the AP-HP, aimed to evaluate the safety of the interruption of beta-blockers in terms of cardiovascular events and the usefulness in terms of improving the quality of life in chronically treated patients who suffered a myocardial infarction more than 6 months ago without significant myocardial sequelae or heart failure.
This trial represents the largest Hospital Clinical Research Program (PHRC) in terms of number of patients randomized with 3,698 patients across 46 active centers and 259 investigators involved. Inclusions took place over a period of 48 months, including the Covid-19 period, and patients were followed over a median period of three years (up to a maximum of 5 years of follow-up).
The results show that the interruption of beta-blockers is associated with a 2.8% increased risk of recurrence of cardiovascular events (death, MI, stroke or hospitalization for cardiovascular reasons) and a 16% increase in relative risk in patients stopping the beta-blocker, making it impossible to demonstrate the non-inferiority (safety) of this strategy.
To find out: read the press release
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