Beta-Blockers and Scientific Misconduct

Beta-blockers are common drugs, usually used in the case of congestive heart failure and high blood pressure. They act by impeding the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and epinephrine (adrenaline) to bind to beta receptors, thus dilating blood vessels, which decreases the blood pressure and the heart rate.

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) advised the use of beta-blockers in the case of non-cardiac surgery. Yet, a research done earlier this year showed that this guideline is based on “questionable and probably fraudulent research,” and may have been the reason for 800,000 deaths in Europe in a period of five years.

Namely, these guidelines regarding the use of beta-blockers were done by a scientist who was fired in 2011, for scientific misconduct, and at the same time, was the chairman of the committee that constructed the draft of the European treatment guideline on the first place.

Yet, even though expected otherwise, the ESC needed two years to withdraw the beta-blocker recommendation. His delay led to the death of a half of a million people.

Recently, the Forbs published a revised version of the article was published, which explained in details all the risks and consequences of the publication of a fraudulent research and its practical use in clinics.

“They write about a culture of neglect in which few if any participants have anything to gain by finding or reporting scientific misconduct. They cite numerous examples in which misconduct has been alleged but the responsible actors– authors, home institutions, journals, and medical societies– have responded in only the most minimal and non aggressive fashion. The portrait they paint is of a scientific and medical establishment devoted to not rocking the boat.”