Loading...
A “polypill” — a single fixed-dose pill containing medications from several drug classes that potentially lower cardiovascular (CV) risk — has been proposed as a way to implement large-scale CV prevention, particularly in low-income countries. In this cluster-randomized trial from a predominantly rural area of Iran, researchers assigned 6800 people (age range, 50–75) to either a daily polypill (12.5-mg hydrochlorothiazide, 5-mg enalapril, 81-mg aspirin, and 20-mg atorvastatin) or a control group. Most participants (89%) had no history of CV disease, but half had known hypertension. Only one third of participants had been taking any CV drug.
During 5 years of follow-up, the incidence of major adverse CV events was significantly lower in the p…