“The results of the SECURE study show that for the first time the polypill containing aspirin, ramipril [an ACE inhibitor]and atorvastatin [Lipitor]achieves clinically meaningful reductions in recurrent cardiovascular events among people who have recovered from a previous heart attack due to better compliance with this simplified, single-pill approach,” said lead researcher Dr. Valentin Fuster. He is director of Mount Sinai Heart and chief medical officer of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. After a heart attack, patients are usually prescribed three different drugs: an antiplatelet agent (such as aspirin); ramipril or another blood pressure medicine. and a cholesterol-lowering drug, such as a statin. Unfortunately, less than 50% of patients take their medications as prescribed, the researchers noted. “Although most patients initially adhere to treatment after an acute event such as a heart attack [tissue death], adherence decreases after the first few months. Our goal was to have an impact from the start, and most of the patients in the study started taking a single polypill within the first week after the heart attack,” Fuster said. For the study, his team randomly assigned nearly 2,500 men and women who had had a heart attack to the new drug (Trinomia) or standard treatment. The average age of the participants was 76 years. After three years of follow-up, researchers found that those taking Trinomia had a 24% lower overall risk of heart attack, stroke, death from cardiovascular disease, or needing a procedure to open blocked coronary arteries than patients receiving standard care. . Even more impressively, Trinomia reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 33%, the researchers noted. Patients taking Trinomia were also more likely to adhere to their regimen than those taking three pills. “The findings of the SECURE study suggest that the polypill could become an integral part of strategies to prevent recurrent cardiovascular events in patients who have had a heart attack,” Fuster said in a hospital news release. “By simplifying treatment and improving compliance, this approach has the potential to reduce the risk of recurrent CVD and death on a global scale.” The polypill used in the study has not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the New York Times reported, but Fuster said the impressive results will be submitted to the agency soon in an effort to get approval. The findings were presented Friday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Combination pills are easier on the doctor and the patient, and the data is pretty clear — it translates into a benefit,” said Dr. Thomas Wang, chairman of the department of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who wrote an article accompanying the study. , he told the Times. “It’s easier to take one pill versus multiple pills, and it’s easier to take them once a day than multiple times a day.” More information For more on heart attack, head to the American Heart Association. SOURCES: Mount Sinai Hospital, news release, August 26, 2022. The New York Times
Was this page helpful?
From your website articles Related articles around the web
