JOIN USPeople at risk of developing heart diseases show better treatment adherence if they are given a polypill — a fixed dose combination of aspirin along with multiple blood pressure and cholesterol lowering medicines.
Though doctors mostly prefer to prescribe different drugs depending on a person’s physiological conditions, use of polypill can lead to 43 per cent improvement in patient’s adherence, says a new research data presented at the ongoing World Congress on Cardiology in Melbourne.
The estimated prevalence of heart diseases in India is around 30 million and the number may increase to about 64 million in 2015. Cardiovascular diseases is the number one cause of death globally, killing 17.3 million people each year.
As India plans to substantially reduce its non-communicable diseases by 2025, polypill – if it becomes popular among doctors – can reduce the heart disease burden as it would be cheaper than several individual medicines. “Doctors need to be educated on polypill. Most physicians prefer to write individual medicines in their prescriptions after checking a person’s blood pressure and cholesterol level. But polypill’s efficacy in secondary prevention (among people with a history) was established,” K Srinath Reddy, president of Public Health Foundation of India told Deccan Herald from Melbourne.
An analysis of three clinical studies conducted between 2009 and 2013 demonstrated 43 per cent betterment in patient adherence to medication after 12 months with the polypill. The new findings rely heavily on a 2013 India-European study, which showed similar trends in Indian patients.