Stopping beta blockers is linked to more hospitalisations among patients with prior MI and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), researchers say.

The French team said they expected to find that ceasing beta blocker drug therapy 12 months post-MI would be non-inferior to continuing the drugs.

However, their unblinded open-label trial, with a combined primary end point of death, MI, stroke or cardiovascular hospitalisation, failed to achieve non-inferiority over a median follow-up of three years.

“We were unable to show safety preservation in terms of clinical events nor any benefit on quality of life with beta blocker interruption,” lead author Professor Johanne Silvain said at the recent European Society of Cardiology Congress in London.