A Meta-Analysis of 94,492 Patients With Hypertension Treated With Beta Blockers to Determine the Risk of New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus
I remain astonished at the results of this study. Beta blockers are given to patients with high blood pressure to presumably lower their risk of both cardiovascular disease and stroke. However, given the concern that this class of drugs may actually increase progression to diabetes (which would dramatically increase the risk of heart disease and stroke), this study looked more deeply into the question.
What did they find in evaluating studies combining 95,000 patients?? A 22% INCREASED risk of diabetes!! Ok, so they get diabetes, but what about protecting against stroke? How well did that work? A 15% increased risk of stroke. Then, for the icing on the cake, the authors found no change in risk for heart attacks or death. And for this our insurance reimburses the cost???
The bottom line is that, any time we try to artificially mutate a value (like blood pressure) with drugs, there will be a price to be paid. As the wizened turtle in Kung Fu Panda say, “one is likely to meet their destiny on the road they take to avoid it.” Lifestyle is the ONLY answer.