Beta-blocker therapy is recommended after ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) in current guidelines, although its efficacy in those patients who have undergone primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been adequately evaluated. Of 12,824 consecutive patients who underwent sirolimus-eluting stent implantation in the J-Cypher registry, we identified 910 patients who underwent PCI within 24 hours from onset of STEMI. Three-year outcomes were evaluated according to use of β blockers at hospital discharge (349 patients in β-blocker group and 561 patients in no-β-blocker group). Patients in the β-blocker group more frequently had hypertension, low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), a left anterior descending artery infarct, and statin use than those in the no-β-blocker group. No difference was observed between the β-blocker and no-β-blocker groups in mortality (6.6% vs 6.6%, p = 0.85; propensity score adjusted hazard ratio 1.10, 95% confidence interval 0.64 to 1.90, p = 0.70) or in incidence of major adverse cardiac events (all-cause death, recurrent myocardial infarction, and heart failure hospitalization, 13.5% vs 12.1%, p = 0.91; hazard ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 0.76 to 1.66, p = 0.53). Better outcomes were observed in the β-blocker group than in the no-β-blocker group in a subgroup of patients with LVEF ≤40% (n = 125, death 6.4% vs 17.4%, p = 0.04; major adverse cardiac events 14.5% vs 31.8%, p = 0.009). In conclusion, β-blocker therapy was not associated with better 3-year clinical outcomes in patients with STEMI who underwent primary PCI and had preserved LVEF.
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