Medication Adherence With Polypill in Cardiovascular Disease and High- Risk Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Involving 7364 Participants

Abstract

Considering the worldwide mortality and morbidity of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), the necessity of using multiple pills due to the chronicity of this condition, and the importance of medication adherence in these patients, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the polypill effect on adherence in patients with established CVD and at high risk. To accomplish this review, we searched various databases to access grey literature and several electronic databases to find randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing polypills compared to individual pills from January 2000 to October 2022. The outcomes were primarily medication adherence, secondarily systolic blood pressure (SBP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) serum level, and seri- ous adverse events (SAEs). Ultimately, 2820 studies were detected and narrowed to 8 RCTs based on the eligibility criteria. In this study, involving 7364 patients, there was a significant improvement in medi- cation adherence in the polypill group compared to the individual pills group (Risk Ratio RR =1.29; 95%CI: 1.10; 1.50). Out of secondary outcomes, SBP was significantly decreased (Mean Difference MD =- 1.72 mmHg; 95%CI:-2.40; 1.03), but LDL-C serum level (MD =-0.65 mg/dl; 95%CI:-4.47; 3.16) and SAE (RR = 1.08; 95%CI: f0.98; 1.20) did not have a notable difference in polypill compared to individual pills. (Curr Probl Cardiol 2024;49:102061.)