Aim: Based on guidelines, patients with established cardiovascular disease are likely to already receive a combination of aspirin, a statin, and blood pressure (BP)-lowering agents. Combining these pharmacological agents into a cardiovascular polypill could be considered in these patients to reduce prescription gaps and non-adherence. We aimed to assess the prevalence of the combined use of aspirin, statin, and BP-lowering agents in patients with established cardiovascular diseases or type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) in the period 1996-2009.
Methods: In total, 5702 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), cerebrovascular disease (CVD), peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) or, DM2 were included in the period 1996-2009.
Results: The overall use of combination therapy with aspirin, statin, and ≥ 1 BP-lowering agent increased substantially from 9% in 1996 to 66% in 2009 and ≥ 2 BP-lowering agents increased from 1% to 47%. In 2009, combination therapy with ≥ 1 BP-lowering agent was used by 83% of those with CAD, 48% of those with CVD, 43% of those with PAOD, 36% of the patients with AAA, and 19% of the patients with DM2. In most patient groups, obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension concomitant CAD, CVD, or DM2 were related to the use of combination therapy in models adjusted for age and gender.
Conclusion: A high proportion of patients with established cardiovascular diseases already uses a combination of pharmacological agents. Introduction of a polypill in high-risk patients might be feasible to reduce prescription gaps and increase adherence to indicated therapy.
Keywords: Aspirin; blood pressure-lowering agents; cardiovascular prevention; combination pill; combination therapy; polypill; statin.