Depression triggered by antihypertensive drugs? Study comes to a clear result

Doctors prescribe beta blockers if they want to reduce high blood pressure.

A study has now looked at a frequently discussed possible side effect.

Beta blockers are among the most frequently prescribed drugs in Germany: around 20 to 30 million Germans have high blood pressure, as the Techniker Krankenkasse informs.

Four out of five patients knew about the disease, 88 percent of those diagnosed were receiving medical treatment.

In many cases, a change in lifestyle is sufficient to get mild high blood pressure under control *.

However, if blood pressure values ​​are too high in the long term, doctors usually prescribe beta blockers

.

These drugs lower blood pressure and the heart rate and are prescribed not only for high blood pressure, but also for coronary heart disease and chronic heart failure, informs the German Heart Foundation.

As the Heart Foundation continues to write, beta blockers are considered tolerable, but side effects can occur.

Regardless of the active ingredient, the ingestion could lead to the pulse being greatly slowed down and asthma attacks are also possible.

Fatigue and worsening circulatory disorders in the hands and feet are also possible side effects triggered by the use of beta blockers.

Depression is also discussed as a possible side effect, but this has not yet been clearly proven

.

A team of authors led by Thomas G. Riemer from the Charité in Berlin has now dealt with the subject and published a study on the subject in the specialist journal

Hypertension

.

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Depression from beta blockers?

"Beta blockers are largely safe in terms of mental health"

According to the Pharmazeutische Zeitung (PZ), the scientists used data from more than 53,000 people from 285 individual studies on 24 different beta blockers in the meta-analysis.

According to the PZ, only double-blind, randomized and controlled studies were taken into account.

The reassuring result:

the researchers found no connection between the use of beta blockers and the development of depression

.

“We found no evidence of an association between beta blocker use and depression.

The same applies to most of the other psychological symptoms that were described in the studies on which our analyzes are based, ”quotes the PZ senior author Professor Dr.

Reinhold Kreutz, Director of the Institute for Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Charité.

The study also found that the most common reasons for stopping beta-blockers were fatigue and tiredness.

The researchers were also able to identify sleep disorders and unusual dreams as side effects of the antihypertensive drugs.

"

Beta blockers are largely safe in terms of mental health

," says Kreutz, summarizing the study results.

(jg) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.

To the study

More sources: https://www.herzstiftung.de/infos-zu-herz Krankungen/;

https://www.tk.de/techniker/gesundheit-und-medizin/

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