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Common heart failure drug linked to worsened health
Common heart failure drugs, known as nitrates, are widely prescribed for heart failure patients, but research suggests they may do more harm than good. The findings revealed that nitrates don’t improve quality of life or boost daily activity levels as they are intended.
Nitrates are prescribed to treat chest pains so that patients can begin to increase their activity levels, but the research suggests otherwise.
Lead researcher, Dr. Margaret Redfield, said, “Nitrates tended to reduce daily activity and significantly reduce active hours per day.”
Furthermore, nitrates do not improve exercise capacity or symptoms of heart failure, such as shortness of breath or weakness during walking. If anything, the drugs were found to worsen such symptoms.
Dr. Redfield added, “This study should change practice. Long-acting nitrates should not be used for symptom relief in heart failure.”
Researchers randomly assigned 110 heart-failure patients either six weeks of a daily increasing dose of isosorbide mononitrate or a placebo.
Read more at http://www.belmarrahealth.com/common-heart-failure-drug-linked-to-worsened-health/
