Polypill: an affordable strategy for cardiovascular disease prevention in low–medium-income countries

LOPEZ JARAMILLO, JOSÉ PATRICIO; Silvia González-Gómez; Diego Zarate-Bernal; Andrés Serrano; Leonor Atuesta; Christian Clausen; Claudia Castro-Valencia; Paul Camacho-Lopez; Johanna Otero

doi:10.1177/1753944718764588

Polypill: an affordable strategy for cardiovascular disease prevention in low–medium-income countries

Journal

Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular Disease

ISSN

1753-9455

Date Issued

2018-03-16

Author(s)

LOPEZ JARAMILLO, JOSÉ PATRICIO

Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud Eugenio Espejo

Silvia González-Gómez

Diego Zarate-Bernal

Andrés Serrano

Leonor Atuesta

Christian Clausen

Claudia Castro-Valencia

Paul Camacho-Lopez

Johanna Otero

DOI

10.1177/1753944718764588

URL

https://cris.ute.edu.ec/handle/123456789/904

Abstract

The simplification of fixed dose medications by using a single ‘polypill’ is an attractive strategy to improve adherence to medications which has shown benefit to cardiovascular risk factor control and cardiovascular disease prevention or delay in the progression of these diseases. We review the evidence obtained from a series of clinical trials demonstrating an improvement in adherence to the polypill compared to the use of each compound separately, and found similar or better control of the classical cardiovascular risk factors and a similar safety profile. These results suggest that the use of the polypill could have a beneficial impact in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, the polypill has the potential to improve cost effectiveness and is simple to use. However, before recommending the implementation of the polypill in programs aimed at primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention, we are awaiting the results of several current clinical trials aimed at measuring the impact on the frequency of major cardiovascular outcomes, particularly in low–medium-income countries.