Nadolol, sold under the brand name Corgard among others, is a medication used to treat high blood pressure, heart pain, atrial fibrillation, and some inherited arrhythmic syndromes.^[1] It has also been used to prevent migraine headaches and complications of cirrhosis.^[2][3] It is taken orally.^[2]

Common side effects include dizziness, feeling tired, a slow heart rate, and Raynaud syndrome.^[1] Serious side effects may include heart failure and bronchospasm.^[1] Its use in pregnancy and breastfeeding is of unclear safety.^[4] It is a non-selective beta blocker and works by blocking β1-adrenergic receptors in the heart and β2-adrenergic receptors in blood vessels.^[1]

Nadolol was patented in 1970 and came into medical use in 1978.^[5] It is available as a generic medication.^[1] In 2020, it was the 340th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 700 thousand prescriptions.^[6]

Nadolol is used to treat hypertension and for long-term treatment of angina pectoris and is approved by the FDA for these purposes.^[7]

It is regularly used off-label^[7] for control of heart rate in people with atrial fibrillation,^[8] prevention of migraine headaches;^[9] prevention of bleeding veins in people with portal hypertension caused by cirrhosis;^[3] and to treat people with high levels of thyroid hormone.^[10]

Nadolol is the preferred beta-blocker in the management of patients with LQTS for prevention of ventricular arrhythmia. It is more efficacious than selective beta blockers or propranolol in the prevention of breakthrough cardiac events.^[11] Similarly, it is the preferred type of beta blocker for treatment of patients with CPVT, as it has been shown to be more efficacious than selective beta blockers, like atenolol or bisoprolol.^[12]

Nadolol has the advantage of once daily dosing and thus improved patient compliance. For patients with decreased kidney function, nadolol may be dosed less often.^[13] It has also been found to be useful (off-label) for several neurological disorders such as the prevention of migraine attacks,^[14] attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD)^[15] and its use has been explored as a treatment for essential tremor^[16] and Parkinson’s disease^[17] but neither is well established.^[18][19][20] Nadolol has been used to treat anxiety as well.^[21][22]