THE POLYPILL FOR CV RISK FACTOR MANAGEMENT. MORE DATA

Dr Simon Thom ( Imperial College, London ) ad colleagues have just reported the 15 month follow up results of UMPIRE, in the Journal of the American Medical Association. UMPIRE stands for Use of Multidrug Pill in Reducing CV Events. They had enrolled 2004 patients, from India, England, Ireland and the Netherlands, with hypertension and dyslipidemia, with mean age of 62yrs and 82% were males. Half were given the usual standard treatment and the other half were given aspirin 75mg, simvastatin 40mg, Lisinopril 10 mg and either 12.5 mg of hydrochlorthiazide or 50 mg atenolol. The primary endpoint was adnerence to therapy ( self reporting ) and also change in baseline systolic BP and LDL-C.

After 15 months follow up, they found that adherence was better with those on Polypill ( 85% Vs 65% ) and systolic BP was reduced by 2.6 mmHg and LDL-C was reduced by 4.2 mMols/L. Both these reductions, though small, were statistically significant.

It does appear that the polypill does have a role to play in the management of patients with chronic no-communicable diseases and CV risk factor reduction.