BMJ 1995;311:1501-1502 (2 December)

Letters

Author's reply

EDITOR,--Ton J M Cleophas and Robert B Kalmansohn's letter is misleading. There is a twofold difference between the undisputed and sometimes fatal risk of asthma in patients taking a ß blocker and the risks (if any) of the transiently higher blood pressure observed by the authors in a few patients admitted to hospital or undergoing anaesthesia. My editorial otherwise agreed with everything in the first half of their letter except for the implication that ß1 selective blockade does not cause asthma.

The second half of the letter also agrees with the editorial about the theoretical risks of ß1 selective blockade in angina and gives one of the theoretical reasons for preferring this in hypertensive patients. These are not sufficient arguments for an editorial in the BMJ to recommend one class of ß blockade and should be accompanied by the proviso that measurements of blood pressure are only a . . . [Full text of this article]


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