&bgr;-Agonist use has become relatively contraindicated in patients with heart failure. However, the issue has not been evaluated in a controlled study, and some evidence now suggests that &bgr;-agonists might actually have a therapeutic role in patients with heart failure, as reported at the 3rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Heart Failure Society of America[San Francisco, US; September, 1999]. A retrospective study has shown that a history of inhaled &bgr;-agonist therapy has a significantly favourable association with heart failure survival. Though primarily a source for hypothesis generation at this point, the finding nonetheless warrants closer scrutiny, including prospective clinical evaluation, said Dr Eric Stanek from the University of Pennsylvania, US.