Beta-blockers and aspirin may protect the heart during bereavement
New research finds a combination of low dose aspirin and beta-blockers reduces blood circulation pressure and decreases symptoms of anxiety during bereavement. The findings could materialize into preventive measures that clinicians incorporate to their practices.
Dr. Geoffrey Tofler, a professor of preventive cardiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, in Australia, may be the lead author of the new study.
He explains the motivation for the study, saying that the chance of mortality and adverse cardiovascular events is known to spike during bereavement.
Specifically: “The increased risk of heart attack [during bereavement] can last up to six months. It really is highest in the first days following bereavement and remains at four times the chance between 7 days to 1 1 month following the loss,” the lead author notes.
In fact, within their paper - which appears in the American Heart Journal - the authors remember that the chance of death following loss of someone you care about accounts for almost half of the excess mortality through the bereavement of a spouse.
Although the sources of cardiovascular risk during bereavement remain somewhat unclear, researchers believe that contributing factors range from higher systolic blood pressure and heart rate, lower heart rate variability, immune changes, and anxiety, depression, and anger.
Some previous studies, note Dr. Tofler and the team, have suggested that beta-blockers, aspirin, or both could modify physiological pathways that get activated in bereavement.
So, the researchers attempt to test whether a minimal dosage of the beta-blocker metoprolol in combo with aspirin could lower the markers of cardiovascular risk without interfering with the grieving process.
Studying the effects of both drugs
To the end, Dr. Tofler and colleagues enrolled 85 participants who had lost either their spouse or a child in the past 2 weeks.
Of the participants, 42 took low daily doses of metoprolol and aspirin for 6 weeks, and the rest took a placebo.
The researchers asked the participants to take their blood circulation pressure at home, accounting for the systolic measurements in the analysis.
The team also measured the participants’ 24-hour average heart rate, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and their blood clotting response - measured by the reaction of blood platelets to arachidonic acid.
Furthermore, the group assessed the intensity of every participant’s bereavement using the Core Bereavement Items questionnaire.
Benefits persist after treatment stops
“The primary finding was that the active medication, found in a low dose once a day, successfully reduced spikes in blood pressure and heart rate, as well as demonstrating some positive change in blood clotting tendency,” reports Dr. Tofler.
He adds, “We were reassured that the medication had no adverse influence on the psychological responses and even lessened symptoms of anxiety and depression.”
Furthermore, “Encouragingly, and to our surprise,” the lead researcher continues, “reduced levels of anxiety and blood circulation pressure persisted, even after stopping the 6 weeks of daily beta-blocker and aspirin.”
“Our study may be the first clinical trial to examine the way the cardiac risk factors could be mitigated during early bereavement,” continues the professor.
Improving the fitness of bereaved people
Co-author and associate professor Tom Buckley, Ph.D., says, “Our finding on the potentially protective benefit for this treatment can be an excellent reminder for clinicians to consider the well-being of the bereaved.”
“Future studies are had a need to examine if these medications could be used for other short periods of extreme emotional stress, such as after natural disasters or mass bereavement, where currently there are no guidelines to inform clinicians.”
Co-investigator Holly Prigerson, Ph.D., co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care, at Weill Cornell Medicine, in NY, also comments on the findings. She says, “That is an important study because it shows ways to increase the physical and mental health of at-risk bereaved people.”
“This is a preventive intervention that is potentially practice-changing, using inexpensive, commonly available medicines.”
- Holly Prigerson, Ph.D.
Finally, the authors caution that people should not take the medication studied in this trial without first discussing their symptoms with a physician, as incorrect use could be dangerous.
Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com
