Table 2.

Association between a new discharge prescription for beta-blocker and 30-day post-discharge outcomes in a propensity-matched cohort of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for heart failure

	(events)
Outcomes	New discharge prescription for beta-blocker		Absolute risk diff.*	Hazard ratio† (95 confidence interval)
	No (n=380) %,N	Yes (n=380) %,N
All-cause hospital readmission	23 (86)	20 (77)	−3	0.87 (0.64–1.18); p=0.377
Heart failure readmission	8 (30)	8 (29)	0	0.95 (0.57–1.58); p=0.837
All-cause mortality	5(20)	2(6)	−3	0.29 (0.12–0.73); p=0.008
All-cause mortality or all-cause readmission	26 (97)	21 (81)	−5	0.81 (0.60–1.09); p=0.166

^*Absolute risk differences(%) were calculated by subtracting percent events in patients receiving no beta-blocker from those receiving those drugs

^†The hazard ratios compared patients receiving beta-blocker versus those not receiving beta-blocker. These hazard ratios were calculated by treating patients without events during the first 30 days as censored