Beta Blockers Help Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients

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"If there are severe signs and symptoms before discharge, you have to think twice," Gheorghiade said. "A patient who is not severely decompensated, with a heart rate below 40 or 50, you can start the drug before discharge."

The new study could have a wide application, Young noted. About 1 million Americans are hospitalized each year because of heart failure, he said. And it marks a complete reversal in what was once the common belief, that beta blockers would harm people with heart failure.

"If you are on a beta blocker and are admitted with decompensated heart failure, it is best not to stop the drug, as had been commonly thought recently," Young said.

More information

Learn about beta blockers and other drugs for heart failure from the American Heart Association.