The Evolving Role of Beta Blockers in the Management of Hypertension-Expert Perspectives

                                       

The Evolving Role of Beta Blockers in the Management of Hypertension—Expert Perspectives 
 

 

Release Date: January 30, 2014

Last Reviewed: December 9, 2013

Expiration Date: January 30, 2015

Time to Complete Activity:  1.75 hours

*This activity expired for credit on January 30, 2015 and is no longer available for credit
 

Professor of Clinical Medicine

Tulane University School of Medicine

Tulane Heart and Vascular Institute

New Orleans, LA

 

Professor of Internal Medicine

Frederick G.L. Huetwell Collegiate Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine

University of Michigan Health System

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine

Ann Arbor, MI

 

Professor of Medicine

Columbia University

St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center

Department of Cardiology

New York, NY

 

Professor of Medicine

SUNY Downstate College of Medicine

Cardiology Department

Brooklyn, NY

 

This activity has been designed to meet the educational needs of primary care physicians, internists, hospitalists, physician assistants, and other allied HCPs interested and actively engaged in the management of patients with hypertension.

 

For nearly half a century, beta-blockers (BBs) have been a pivotal mainstay in the management of hypertension. Yet, there is still some confusion as to the differences among the agents, the data supporting their use, and patient selection. BBs are not a homogenous class of drugs, and many of the therapeutic limitations prompting guideline changes may not be present in third-generation agents. Unlike earlier BBs, select third-generation BBs exert direct vasodilatory effects by improving endothelial function and mediating the release of nitric oxide, a potent vasodilator. Data suggest that newer agents are not associated with many of the common side effects of early-generation BBs, and that they may have a particular role among difficult-to-treat patient populations. Questions regarding their efficacy and tolerability have raised concerns about how best to use BBs, ie, which to prescribe and for what patient type. To address these concerns, The Evolving Role of Beta-Blockers in the Management of Hypertension—Expert Perspectives has been developed for primary care physicians. The purpose of this webinar is to examine the utility of BBs in the management of hypertension through a review of contemporary, evidence-based data on their use as an essential tool in the clinician’s fight to appropriately treat patients diagnosed with hypertension. The focus is on the contemporary role of BBs in the management of hypertension, differences among the various agents, and patient selection criteria—which agents to choose and for whom—in a lively roundtable discussion among the experts.

 

 

 

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This activity is supported by an educational grant from Forest Laboratories, Inc.

 

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