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Airwaves

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	β BLOCKERS REDUCE MORTALITY IN COPD

 
It is well known that β blockers reduce mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. COPD is often complicated by cardiovascular disease and patients are often not treated with β blockers due to concern over possible worsening of airways obstruction, even though cardioselective β blockers have little deleterious effect on airway function. In this issue, Dransfield and colleagues report a study of patients with COPD hospitalised with an exacerbation. The authors show, after correcting for relevant confounders, that COPD patients treated with β blockers have a lower in-patient mortality, than those patients not treated with β blockers. In the accompanying editorial Au summarises some of the reasons for the reduction in mortality observed in this study and concludes that β blockers appear to be safe in COPD. As cardiovascular disease is so common in COPD, Au points out that the effectiveness of β blockers on mortality deserves further study.

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