A study shows that a daily pill containing four medicines can cut the number of heart attacks and strokes by a third.
The polypill contains blood-thinning aspirin, a cholesterol-lowering statin and two drugs to lower blood pressure. The researchers said the pill had a huge impact but cost just pennies a day. They suggest giving it to everyone over a certain age in poorer countries, where doctors have fewer options and are less able to assess individuals. Coronary heart disease and stroke are the top two causes of death worldwide, killing more than 15 million people a year.
Smoking, obesity and doing little exercise all increase the risk of an unhealthy heart. The study was based in more than 100 villages in Iran and about 6,800 people took part. Half of the people were given the polypill and advice on how to improve the health of their heart, with the other half just getting the advice.
The pill is expected to prevent many deaths.
After five years there were:
- 202 major cardiovascular events in the 3,421 people getting the polypill
- 301 in the 3,417 not getting the pill
“We’ve provided evidence in a developing or middle-income country – and that’s a lot of countries – that this is a strategy worth considering,” Professor Tom Marshall, from the University of Birmingham, said to BBC News in a statement.
“Given the polypill’s affordability, there is considerable potential to improve cardiovascular health and to prevent the world’s leading cause of death,” said Dr Nizal Sarrafzadegan, of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
The idea of the polypill has been around since 2001 but this is the first major trial to prove its effectiveness.
