Major Clinical Trial Finds Stopping Beta-Blockers is Safe for Low-Risk Patients One Year After Heart Attack

New ACC.26 study finds that stable, low-risk heart attack survivors can safely stop taking beta-blockers after one year without increasing cardiac risk.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 31, 2026, 5:13 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from American College of Cardiology

Re-evaluating a Decades-Old Standard of Care

For over forty years, beta-blockers have been a cornerstone of post-heart attack recovery. By inhibiting adrenaline, these medications lower heart rate and blood pressure, reducing the workload on a healing heart. However, most of the evidence supporting lifelong beta-blocker use comes from an era before modern "revascularization" techniques—like stents and advanced blood thinners—were common. New research led by Dr. Joo-Yong Hahn of Samsung Medical Center suggests that in today’s high-tech medical landscape, the incremental benefit of staying on these drugs indefinitely may be negligible for stable, low-risk survivors.

The Trial: Non-Inferiority in Stable Patients

The study followed 2,540 patients across 26 sites in South Korea who had survived a heart attack and remained stable on beta-blockers for at least one year. Participants were divided into two groups: those who continued their medication and those who stopped. After a median follow-up of 3.5 years, the results were conclusive:

Primary Endpoint Events: 7.2% in the discontinuation group vs. 9% in the continuation group (meeting the threshold for "non-inferiority").

Secondary Outcomes: No significant differences were found in rates of new-onset atrial fibrillation, quality of life changes, or overall heart function.