‘Polypill’ Reduces Risk of Repeat Heart Attacks
For years, doctors have prescribed a standard regimen of medications to help heart attack survivors avoid another serious cardiovascular event. And for just as long, many patients have struggled to keep up with all of these pills.Results of a new clinical trial suggest that the solution may be a so-called “polypill” containing three of these commonly prescribed medications: aspirin to prevent clots that lead to heart attacks; an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitor) to control blood pressure; and a cholesterol-lowering statin.For the trial, researchers randomly assigned almost 2,500 heart attack survivors to take either a three-drug polypill or a standard drug regimen with similar medications, each prescribed separately. After about three years of follow-up, patients on the polypill were 33 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular-related causes than people…