Heart Med Found to Increase Death in People with Irregular Heartbeat

Heather Callaghan

In An Account of the Foxglove and Some of its Medical Uses, published in 1785, Sir William Withering cautioned readers that extracts from the poisonous plant foxglove, also called digitalis, was not a perfect drug.

He wrote:

...Time will fix the real value upon this discovery, and determine whether I have imposed upon myself and others, or contributed to the benefit of science and mankind.

Fast forward 200 years - researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have finally highlighted that caution with the discovery that patients with atrial fibrillation — a rapid and irregular heart rhythm — who are treated with the digitalis-derivative digoxin are more likely to die than similar patients who received different treatments.