Revisiting old debates

This week's BMJ revisits old debates—and has at least one new one. Firstly, Nick Freemantle and colleagues revisit the effectiveness of β blockade in secondary prevention after myocardial infarction (p 1730). As they point out, β blockers were once heralded as a major advance, though their use in secondary prevention has declined. Their systematic review shows that β blockers still have benefits as long term treatment after an infarction and compare favourably with other drug treatments.

Another old topic revisited is that of alcohol consumption and mortality—this …