β-blockers Linked to Violence Reduction

A Swedish population-wide longitudinal cohort study suggested that β-blockers were associated with reductions in violence. The study included 1,400,766 individuals aged 15 years or older (50 years and over 86.8%, women 52.2%) who had collected β-blocker prescriptions and followed them for 8 years between 2006 and 2013. 6.9% of the β-blocker users were hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder, 0.7% presented with suicidal behavior, and 0.7% were charged with a violent crime. Self-controlled analyses showed that periods of β-blocker treatment were associated with reduced hazards of psychiatric hospitalizations (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.92), charges of violent crime (HR: 0.87), and increased hazards of suicidal behavior (HR: 1.08). Adjusted by diagnosis, reduced psychiatric hospitalizations during β-blocker treatment were mainly driven by lower hospitalization rates due to depressive (HR: 0.92) and psychotic disorders (HR: 0.89). The association with reduced violent charges remained in most sensitivity analyses, but associations with psychiatric hospitalizations and suicidal behavior varied by specific psychiatric diagnoses, past psychiatric problems, and cardiac disease severity. The findings suggest that β-blockers could be considered to manage aggression and hostility in individuals with psychiatric conditions. However, the widespread use of β-blockers to manage anxiety is not supported by this study. Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/