Running time: 7 min

The recent JAMA article examining the effects of the “polypill” on adherence and clinical benefits in patients with (or at high risk for) cardiovascular disease, is our topic. The polypill in this trial contained fixed doses of four separate drugs: aspirin, a statin, lisinopril and one other blood-pressure-lowering drug — either atenolol or hydrochlorothiazide.

Adherence among patients on the polypill was 20 percentage points higher than among those following regular multi-pill regimens. It was even higher — by some 40 percentage points — among those least adherent to their regimens at the start of the 15-month trial.

Dr. Anthony Rodgers of the University of Sydney — the paper’s senior author — talks with us about the trial.

Links:

Physician’s First Watch coverage of the trial (free)

JAMA article (free)