Beta-blockers, anti-inflammatory therapies improved pericarditis symptom control
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The use of beta-blockers in addition to standard anti-inflammatory therapies may improve symptom control in patients with pericarditis, according to results published in The American Journal of Cardiology.
“Pericardial pain is triggered and worsened by friction of inflamed pericardial layers. A plausible hypothesis is that a reduction of heart rate could be helpful to achieve a better control of symptoms in pericarditis by reducing the friction of inflamed pericardial layers and thus mechanical inflammation,” Massimo Imazio, MD, cardiologist at Maria Vittoria Hospital in Turin, Italy, and colleagues wrote. “However, the use of beta-blockers in pericarditis is poorly known.”
In an observational study, researchers evaluated 347 patients with pericarditis (mean age, 53 years; 58% women; 48% with recurrent pericarditis) for the efficacy of beta-blockers in addition to standard anti-inflammatory therapy vs. standard anti-inflammatory therapy alone in improving pericarditis symptom control. Researchers utilized propensity score matching for comparison as well as clinical and echocardiographic follow-up. Outcomes of interest included persistence of pericardial pain at week 3 and recurrence of pericarditis at 18 months.
Among the cohort, 36.9% were taking beta-blockers.
Compared with patients receiving anti-inflammatory therapy alone, patients treated with beta-blockers plus standard anti-inflammatory therapy had a reduction of basal heart rate (–21% vs. –7%; P < .001) and a lower frequency of symptoms at week 3 (4% vs. 14%, P = .024). Further, there was a trend toward patients using beta-blockers having less pericarditis recurrence at 18 months (P = .069).
“The use of beta-blockers on top of standard anti-inflammatory therapies seems associated with improved symptoms control,” Imazio and colleagues wrote. “Additional studies are warranted to verify the efficacy of these drugs in this setting.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts