What is Metoprolol?

  • Metoprolol blocks some nerve messages from being received by your heart and blood vessels. As a result, your heart beats more slowly and with less pressure.
  • This makes it easier for your heart to pump blood around your body.
  • This helps if you have high blood pressure or fast heart rhythms (arrhythmia). Metoprolol can also help to protect the heart after a heart attack.
  • Metoprolol is one of a family of medicines called beta-blockers.

 

Find out more at: 

https://patient.info/medicine/metoprolol-a-beta-blocker

https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/search?q=metoprolol

How likely is Metoprolol to help me?

Key

  • This grey face represents the number of people in the survey group.
  • This green face represents the one person in the survey group that the medicine has helped.

Research studies have looked at how likely it is that Metoprolol will reduce risk of death due in people with  mild to severe heart failure.

Research suggests:

In a group of 28 patients with mild to severe heart failure, Metoprolol will prevent one person  from this group (on average) from dying over a period of one year.

This picture illustrates how likely it is that a person taking Metoprolol will  get this benefit.

1in28

It is not possible to tell what will happen to you as an individual.

 

Find out more about this research at

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10376614

(Tooltip - Mean age of patients in this study was 64 years. Current treatment included a combination of ACE inhibitors, Angiotensin receptor blockers and diuretics. . Metoprolol dose was 200 mg/day)

What are the possible risks of taking Metoprolol?

You can discuss with your health professional  the possible side effects and other risks Metoprolol might have.

Side-effects are unwanted affects that can happen to your body when taking a medicine. 

Not everyone will get side-effects. These usually improve as your body adjusts to the new medicine, but speak with your doctor or pharmacist if any of the following side-effects persist or worry you.

Here are some of the common side-effects of Metoprolol - which affect less than 1 in 10 people:

  • Feeling dizzy, tired or light-headed
  • Feeling or being sick
  • Headache
  • Slow heartbeat, feeling breathless, cold hands or feet

There are other side-effects that are less common or rare. 

Find out more at: https://patient.info/medicine/metoprolol-a-beta-blocker#nav-4