Researchers find no evidence to suggest a link between beta blockers and depression

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Mar 15 2021

Drugs such as beta-adrenergic antagonists (beta blockers) have been linked to a range of adverse effects, including depression. But how reliable are these data, and which psychiatric side effects might indeed be caused by these drugs? These questions have been addressed by a team of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, whose comprehensive meta-analysis has been published in Hypertension. While treatment with beta blockers was not found to be associated with an increased incidence of depression, some studies recorded higher levels of sleep disturbance.

Beta-adrenergic antagonists such as metoprolol or propranolol are among the drugs most commonly prescribed for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Their effect is to slow the heart rate and reduce blood pressure, which is why they are used in patients with heart failure, arrhythmias, and high blood pressure. Beta blockers have repeatedly been linked to an increased risk of depression, but also other side effects such as anxiety, sleep disturbance and hallucinations; these links had not previously been explored in a systematic manner.

We found no evidence to suggest a link between the use of beta blockers and depression. The same also goes for most of the other psychiatric symptoms described in the studies included in our analysis."

Prof. Dr. Reinhold Kreutz, Director of Charité's Institute of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology

Continuing his description of the meta-analysis conducted by his team - the first to study the full range of psychiatric side effects - he adds: "However, some patients developed sleep-related symptoms during treatment with beta blockers." The researchers analyzed data from more than 53,000 persons. These were taken from 285 individual studies and involved 24 different beta blockers. Only data from double-blind, randomized, controlled trials were included in the analysis. The majority of these related to high blood pressure and had been conducted more than 20 years ago.

Despite being the most commonly reported psychiatric side effect, depression did not occur more frequently during treatment with beta blockers than during treatment with a placebo. Prof. Kreutz, currently President of the European Society of Hypertension, explains: "Patients with a history of cardiovascular problems such as heart attack or stroke are per se prone to develop mental health complications. This means that, while we found no causal link for this problem with beta blockers, these patients should be anyway monitored in this regard in clinical practice."

Patients treated with beta blockers were no more likely to discontinue their medications due to depression than patients undergoing different treatments. However, drowsiness and fatigue were the most commonly reported reasons for discontinuing treatment. Among the other side effects studied - such as anxiety and loss of appetite, memory, or libido - only sleep disturbance and abnormal dreams were found to be linked with beta blockers.

Summing up the results of the research, Prof. Kreutz says: "Our results show that concerns regarding undesirable psychiatric effects, in particular depression, should not influence the decision-making process regarding the use of beta blockers. For the most part, beta blockers have a good psychiatric safety profile." Therefore, concerns about psychological health should not affect the clinical use of beta-blockers.