Fig 1.

Relative reduction in risk of death or myocardial infarction. Relative risk of myocardial infarction or death for patients receiving atenolol compared with patients receiving metoproplol. A x axis value of 0 denotes the null effect, where risk with atenolol equals risk with metoprolol. Values to the right of 0 indicate a relative risk reduction in favour of atenolol. Baseline risk in each analysis shown in parentheses as total number of events and total sample size. Complete cohort analysis appears at the bottom, showing a 23% relative reduction in the risk of myocardial infarction or death for patients prescribed atenolol compared with patients prescribed metoprolol (95% confidence interval 13 to 32). The designated medication subgroups exclude those receiving the corresponding agent. For example, the 15th line shows that for the subgroup of patients not receiving furosemide, atenolol is associated with a 20% reduction in the risk of myocardial infarction or death (9 to 30)