Elderly people who have problems with blood pressure and cholesterol are forced to take a handful of tablets every day, not always following the dosage. A large international review confirmed the effectiveness of the «polypill» concept, where one pill contains all the necessary drugs with the addition of aspirin. The results were published in The Lancet.
Despite its attractiveness, the polypill concept is one of the most controversial in the scientific community, since earlier studies have not confirmed its effectiveness. An international group of scientists set out to evaluate the effect of a combination of drugs on reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. To do this, a review of three largest studies was conducted, which took place over five years in 26 countries with the participation of 18 thousand patients.
The average age of the volunteers was 63 years at the start of the study, 23.4% of them had diabetes and 63.4% had a history of hypertension. Participants were divided into three groups, and one of them received a «polypill» with a combination of a blood pressure drug and a statin. The second is a “cocktail” of a blood pressure drug, a statin and aspirin. The third group received a placebo.
During a five-year follow-up, various cardiovascular events occurred in 276 volunteers taking the “polypill” and 445 in the control group. The greatest effect was noted in volunteers who took the “cocktail” with By adding aspirin, the cumulative risk of cardiovascular disease decreased by 51% compared with placebo. The likelihood of a stroke decreased by 51% and a heart attack by 53%.
Most importantly, regular aspirin use was not associated with a significant risk of bleeding — one of the most dangerous side effects of acetylsalicylic acid. The only adverse reaction was dizziness.
“The studies were carried out in high-, middle- and low-income countries and we saw that this scheme could be implemented worldwide. “This is an accessible and inexpensive way to reduce the rate of cardiovascular disease in the population,” the review authors said.