David J. Margolis, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, and colleagues assessed 414,887 patients who visited a general practitioner in the United Kingdom between 1987 and 2002. Of these, 62,886 were prescribed beta-adrenergic receptor agonists to treat or prevent a medical condition. An additional 54,861 took beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists, which work along the same pathway but through a different mechanism, with 6,620 taking both.

"A protective association between beta-adrenergic receptor agonists and perhaps beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists and venous leg ulcers exists," the authors write. "The evidence in this study should not be used as a rationale for treatment of venous leg ulcers with beta-adrenergic receptor agents but should be compelling for the consideration of a randomized clinical trial."


REFERENCE:
Arch Dermatol. 2007; 143(10):1275-1280.)


SOURCE: American Medical Association

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