title: Effect of chronic intercurrent medication with beta-adrenoceptor blockade or calcium channel entry blockade on postoperative silent myocardial ischaemia.
abstract: We have examined observational data from four published studies investigating the incidence of postoperative silent myocardial ischaemia (post-SMI) for the effects of chronic intercurrent therapy with beta-adrenoceptor blockade or chronic calcium channel entry blockade. A total of 453 patients underwent ambulatory ECG monitoring before and for 2 days after non-cardiac surgery; 79 patients were receiving chronic intercurrent beta-adrenoceptor blockade and 70 calcium channel entry blockade for ischaemic heart disease or arterial hypertension. Using logistic regression analysis, we defined a model for post-SMI that included four significant terms: beta-adrenoceptor blockade; calcium channel entry blockade; arterial hypertension; and vascular surgery. Using univariate regression, there was no effect of chronic beta-adrenoceptor blocking therapy on post-SMI (odds ratio 0.94 (95% confidence intervals 0.54-1.65)), but there was a higher incidence of post-SMI in patients receiving chronic calcium channel entry blocking drugs (odds ratio 1.95 (1.15-3.32); P = 0.015). There was no interaction between beta-adrenoceptor blockade and calcium channel entry blockade for postoperative SMI (odds ratio 2.48 (0.71-8.73)), but there was an interaction between beta-adrenoceptor blockade, calcium channel entry blockade, hypertension and vascular surgery (P = 0.0201). These findings are at variance with those which have shown effects of preoperative beta-adrenoceptor blockade on the incidence of post-SMI over the first 7 days after operation, and on mortality rates to 2 yr. There are no comparable data examining the effects of chronic intercurrent calcium channel entry blockade.
authors.affiliation: Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Sear
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Foex
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Howell
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers