Smoking hampers beta blockers
If your hospital uses beta blockers to control HDL cholesterol levels, it may be wise to put renewed emphasis on whether your patients smoke.
New findings by a research team at Brown University in Providence, RI, show that smokers increase their risk of coronary heart disease. The investigators examined the relationship between antihypertensive medications’ effect on lipid levels and smoking status, and found that smoking may modify the effect of beta blockers on HDL-cholesterol levels. The resulting data suggested that people who smoked and were treated with beta-blockers had particularly low levels of HDL-cholesterol, thus increasing their risk of heart disease. One of the investigators, Carol A. Derby, MD, points out the high prevalence of smoking and beta blocker use, and suggests that their combined effect could affect public health. t
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