Beta blockers are a type of medication mainly used for heart disease. They are commonly used
to treat 'angina' and to prevent heart attacks. Patients with COPD are more likely to suffer
from heart disease and so already benefit from this treatment for this reason. In addition to
this, new research suggests that there may be further benefit of using beta blockers for
COPD, even without also having heart disease.
The reason why beta blockers are not widely used in COPD at present is because of their
potential to make symptoms of COPD worse by causing the airways to narrow. Beta blockers are
the opposite type of medication to 'beta-agonists' such as salbutamol which you may be taking
for symptoms of breathlessness or wheezing. Nevertheless beta blockers are still used in COPD
where the benefits (for example heart disease) outweigh any risks.
Current COPD treatment includes inhaled steroids and long acting beta agonists, often given
in a combination inhaler (e.g. Seretide or Symbicort) to treat both airway inflammation and
airway narrowing, leading to improvement in symptoms. Another drug commonly used is
Tiotropium (Spiriva) which is another type of long acting inhaler medication to help with
widening the airways.
In this study, we wish to find out if two different types of beta blocker cause different
effects on the airways in COPD patients. One type of beta blocker is more 'selective' in
acting mainly on the heart, with the other type having more general or 'non-selective'
effects on both the heart and lungs. By doing this we will also be able to look at how the
beta blockers work alongside the 'usual' inhaler treatment described above.