Women with heart failure should be battling the disease with the same weapons as men

Dr Jalal Ghali

The drugs mean longer survival times for heart failure patients, and reduce the frequency of admissions to hospital.

However, only an estimated one in 10 suitable UK patients are given them.

The statisticians, from the Cardiac Centers of Louisiana in Shreveport, took the results of three major trials of the drugs.

Low numbers

Because there were relatively few women involved in these trials, it was hard for researchers to spot an obvious survival benefit for women in general.

However, by combining the women from all three, a statistically significant result was obtained.

In fact, the drugs increased total survival in women as much as they did in male patients.

Nurse led clinic

Dr Jalal Ghali, from the research team, said: "Women with heart failure should be battling the disease with the same weapons as men.

"The individual studies may not have had enough subjects to detect a survival benefit, but the combined data show a benefit from these drugs.

"Based on our results, clinicians should feel very comfortable prescribing beta-blockers to women, and not think twice about gender-related differences."

A UK specialist said that there was little evidence that women here were less likely to get the drug - only that too few people in general were being treated in this way.

Dr Gary McVeigh, from the City Hospital Belfast, said: "The problem is that the drugs have to be prescribed initially at a very low dose, the patients monitored frequently and the dose increased gradually to the right level.

"It does take time, and GPs may not have much time to spare."

In Belfast, this has led to the creation of a nurse-led clinic specifically aimed at getting elderly heart failure patients on to the right drugs at the right dosages.

Dr McVeigh said: "This is a cost-effective treatment, as it reduces the number of hospital stays a patient makes, saving the NHS money, as well as reducing the suffering of the patient."