Word: heartedly
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...lower cholesterol), and two blood-pressure-lowering agents. When two British researchers pushed the case for the polypill in a 2003 report in the British Medical Journal, they argued that if taken daily by people with vascular disease and those aged over 55, it would cut the incidence of heart attack and stroke by more than 80%. While advocates have retreated marginally from that claim, their enthusiasm is palpable. "In terms of delivering care at the community level," says Anushka Patel, director of the cardiovascular division of Sydney's The George Institute for International Health, "I think it's potentially...
...balk at the cost, inconvenience or stigma of popping five pills a day. But slackening off can be deadly: between a third and a half of the more than 50,000 Australians (and 11,800 New Zealanders) who die each year from cardiovascular disease have previously survived a heart attack or stroke. As a way to boost compliance, condensing treatment into a single pill, says Patel, "is probably going to be one of the biggest steps forward we can make at this stage." The trials will pit a polypill-based strategy against standard care. The aim: to find out whether...
...components carries the risk of side effects, and these have to be weighed against the potential benefits. For over-55s in excellent cardio health, the net benefit would be minimal. So another study will involve 600 subjects who doctors believe run a 7.5% to 15% risk of having a heart attack or stroke in the next five years, regardless of age. None of them will have cholesterol levels or blood pressure that would qualify them for treatment under current guidelines, just mild to moderate elevation in their readings across multiple risk factors. Treating for overall rather than individual risk recognizes...
...rack medicine, objections to the polypill are based on concerns that we're becoming too reliant on drugs: "Walking for 45 minutes most days of the week would give the equivalent benefits of the polypill," says Roger Allan, chairman of the clinical issues committee of Australia's National Heart Foundation. The polypill, he says, "is the lazy man's option." In 2004, health experts in the Netherlands proposed the polymeal-fish, red wine, garlic, vegetables, fruit, almonds, dark chocolate-as an alternative of roughly equal potency...
...ideal world, concedes Patel, people at risk of heart disease would change their lifestyles. In reality, most don't. So "in the next several decades, the polypill looks like the answer." Depending on the trial results, doctors may be prescribing it within three years. By then, staving off a deadly cardiac event could be a whole lot simpler...