Drug prescribed to BP patients can increase risk of sudden cardiac arrest, claims study

A study conducted recently has observed that the common drug used for treating high blood pressure and angina (chest pain) is associated with an increased risk of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest.Sudden cardiac arrest causes around half of the cardiac deaths in Europe and one in five natural deaths. The heart stops pumping after a cardiac arrhythmia (ventricular fibrillation/ tachycardia ); this can prove to be lethal in minutes if untreated. The results from the European Sudden Cardiac Arrest network (ESCAPE-NET) were presented today at EHRA 2019. It was set up to find the causes of arrhythmias so that it can be prevented. ESCAPE-NET is backed by the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Resuscitation Council (ERC).Dr Hanno Tan, ESCAPE-NET project leader and cardiologist, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands, urged caution when interpreting these results. He said, "The findings need to be replicated in ...