Miraculous ‘polypill’ – made from 3 drugs – may lower risk of heart diseases
Older heart disease patients who took a combination "polypill" made up of three different medications had a lower risk of major cardiovascular events, finds a new study.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed
that "polypill" effectively prevents secondary adverse cardiovascular
events in people who have previously had a heart attack, reducing cardiovascular mortality by 33 per cent in this patient population.
"The polypill, being a very simple strategy that combines three
essential treatments for this type of patient, has proved it's worth
because the improved adherence means that these patients are receiving
better treatment and therefore have a lower risk of recurrent
cardiovascular events," said researcher Jose Maria Castellano from
Fundacion de Investigacion HM Hospitales.
For the study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress
in Spain, the team looked at 2,499 patients in seven European countries
who had a history of type 1 myocardial infarction in the past six
months and were either over the age of 75 or a minimum age of 65 with at
least one risk factor, such as diabetes or mild or moderate kidney
dysfunction.
The average age of the participants was 76 years, and 31 per cent were women.
The study population included 77.9 per cent with hypertension, 57.4 per
cent with diabetes, and 51.3 per cent with a history of smoking
tobacco.
Researchers analysed the incidence of four major cardiovascular events:
death from cardiovascular causes, non-fatal myocardial infarction,
non-fatal stroke, and the need for emergency coronary revascularization
(the restoration of blood flow through a blocked coronary artery).
The study followed patients for an average of three years and produced conclusive results: patients taking the CNIC polypills had a 24 per cent lower risk of these four events than patients taking the three separate drugs.
The findings showed a relative reduction of 33 per cent, from 71
patients in the group receiving standard treatment to just 48 in the
polypill group.