The polypill hit the news this week. It is a capsule that contains 5 drugs. A statin for treating cholesterol (simvastatin), low dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks, and three blood pressure medicines (ramipril, hydrochlorothide, and atenolol). This “one size fits all” approach to heart health really makes no sense in the United States and probably not in India where the study was conducted. This “no-thinkum” approach would result in treatment of many patients at low risk who didn’t need any of the 5 medication, or only one or two of them. On the other side, it would result in under-treatment of specific risks in other patients. It is important for people to look at what benefit is actually reported when these studies come out. The only thing they showed was an improvement in blood pressure and cholesterol. The have been no studies looking at how this combination affects the real outcomes we care about (heart attacks, strokes and death).

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