“In the spectrum of drugs available for the treatment of hypertension, beta-blockers assume center stage in patients with coronary artery disease,” said Clive Rosendorff, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the writing committee, professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, and director of graduate medical education at the Veterans Administration in the Bronx. In addition to their effect on blood pressure, beta-blockers slow the heart rate and reduce the force of cardiac contraction, both of which reduce the heart’s consumption of oxygen. They also increase blood flow to the heart by prolonging the time between contractions, which is when blood flows into the heart muscle.