Clinical use of β-blockers in patients with stroke
| Study | Design | Stroke type | Sample size and group | End points | Conclusions |
| Raedt et al66 | Subgroup analysis of two lubeluzole studies | Ischaemic | 1375, with 264 receiving β-blockers | Poor functional outcome (mRS >3) at 3 months | Use of β-blockers does not appear to influence stroke severity and functional outcome at 3 months. |
| Laowattana et al57 | Prospective | Ischaemic | 111, with 22 treated with β-blockers | Stroke severity on presentation gauged by Canadian Neurologic Scale (CanNS) | Use of β-blocker is associated with less severe stroke on presentation and may be cerebroprotective. |
| Dziedzic et al58 | Retrospective | Ischaemic | 841, with 88 treated with β-blockers | 30-day case fatality | β-blocker use was associated with reduced risk of early death. |
| Maier et al59 | Historical cohort study | Ischaemic/ Haemorrhagic 553/72 | 625, with 301 treated with β-blockers | Pneumonia, urinary tract infections and death | β-blocker therapy did not reduce the risk for poststroke pneumonia, but significantly reduced the risk for urinary tract infections; patients with β-blocker therapy showed higher 30-day mortality. |
| Sykora et al60 | Non-randomised | Ischaemic | 5212, with 1155 treated with β-blockers before stroke and 244 started in acute phase | Mortality, functional outcome (mRS), occurrence of pneumonia | β-blocker therapy was associated with reduced pneumonia frequency; treatment started in acute phase of stroke was associated with reduced mortality; no association with functional outcome. |
mRS, modified Rankin Scale.