Beta-blockers may reduce stroke severity

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Doctors usually prescribed beta-blockers to protect the heart, but it seems the drugs also protect the brain. Researchers found that people who have a stroke are less severely affected if they have been taking beta-blockers.

Dr. Stephen M. Oppenheimer from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and Dr. Somchai Laowattana from New Jersey Neuroscience Institute, Edison looked at the severity of stroke in 111 patients.

Among all the prescribed medications these patients had been taking, only beta-blockers were significantly associated with less stroke severity, after other factors were taken into account, the investigators report in the medical journal Neurology.

Taking aspirin or being on a cholesterol-lowering 'statin' drug were not related to stroke severity, the results indicate.

Oppenheimer told Reuters Health that "perhaps beta blockers could have a dual effect" -- by both lowering blood pressure and thereby reducing the likelihood of stroke "and decreasing its severity once it occurs."

However, he concluded, "This requires further investigation in a large follow-up study involving a cohort of several thousand patients."

SOURCE: Neurology, February 13, 2007.