Recent guidelines have suggested avoiding beta-blockers in the setting of cocaine-associated acute coronary syndrome. However, the available evidence is both scarce and conflicted. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate the evidence pertaining to the use of beta-blockers in the setting of acute cocaine-related chest pain and its implication on clinical outcomes.
Methods
Electronic databases were systematically searched to identify literature relevant to patients with cocaine-associated chest pain who were treated with or without beta-blockers. We examined the end-points of in-hospital all-cause mortality and myocardial infarction. Pooled risk ratios (RR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for all outcomes using a random-effects model.
Results
Five studies with a total of 1447 patients were included. Our analyses found no differences between patients treated with or without beta-blockers for either myocardial infarction (RR 1.08; 95% CI, 0.61-1.91) or all-cause mortality (RR 0.75; 95% CI, 0.46-1.24). Heterogeneity among included studies was low to moderate.
Conclusion
This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that beta-blocker use is not associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients presenting with acute chest pain related to cocaine use
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-Kevin Bryan Lo, MDa,1,, Hafeez Ul Hassan Virk, MDb,1, Vladimir Lakhter, DOc, Pradhum Ram, MDa, Carlos Gongora, MDd, Gregg Pressmanb, Vincent Figueredo, MDb
This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
