Combination Therapy Helps Reduce Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack

Sep, 2021 - By WMR

A combination of a statin, aspirin, and two blood pressure medications has been shown to help reduce the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease (CVD) by more than half.

A study led by a Hamilton researcher shows that a combination of drugs, including aspirin, statins, and a minimum of two blood pressure drugs, can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease in half. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), four out of five CVD deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes. About 80 percent of cardiovascular events occur in individuals without a prior history of such disease. To prevent this and find a solution, the researchers studied a combination of drug therapy.

The study involved subjects from around 26 countries and investigators from 13 countries. The therapy works in fixed doses. Researchers studied the efficiency of fixed-dose combination (FDC) treatment with aspirin and without aspirin in a collective study of more than 18,000 subjects not having any CVD history from three big clinical trials. The FDC happened to cut the risk of cardiac arrests by 53 %, strokes by 51 % and deaths caused by cardiovascular reasons by 49 %. The FDC strategies are called polypills when it is used in single tablet prescription.

The combo given separately or combined as polypill considerably lowers the occurrence of CVD events, fatal or non-fatal. Treatments including blood pressure lowering agents were very effective. The benefits seemed to be consistent at various blood pressure levels, cholesterol levels, and diabetes levels but in older adults even better benefits may occur. Considering all the ingredients in polypill are low cost and easily available, it can be provided to people at reasonable price and it can be very cost effective.

Scientists are predicting the future with the development of stronger polypills that will reduce the risk of CVD by 65-70% and deliver greater benefits, worldwide.