Thousands of people could avoid heart attacks and strokes if the NHS offered people aged 50 and over a single daily pill, rather than a five-yearly health check, experts have argued.
A single “polypill”, which combines a statin and three blood pressure-lowering drugs, could replace NHS health checks for over-fifties, according to an op-ed published in the the British Medical Journal.
The editorial cited previous randomised control trials which used a variety of polypill formulations around the world showed “substantial benefits” in reducing risk factors with minimal side effects.
For example, research published in The Lancet in 2019 showed that the polypill has not only been found to reduce blood pressure, but can cut the number of heart attacks and strokes by a third.
Modelling showed that with 100 per cent uptake and adherence, 2,528 person years would be gained per 1,000 people receiving the preventative medication - far more than the estimated 1,148 of person years gained via the current NHS health check screening programme offered to 40-74 year olds.
This isn’t the first time the polypill approach to public health strategy has been lauded.
It was first proposed in 2000, where researchers suggested that everyone in the population above a specified age would be offered a polypill without medical examination or testing, but simply a question to identify whether it would be appropriate.
The concept was named “one of the most important contributions to medicine in 50 years” by the then-editor of The BMJ.
The paper called the NHS health check a “complex risk factor based screening test” that misses many of those who become affected by cardiovascular disease. With uptake levels around 40 per cent, adherence to the scheme was described as “poor”.
Meanwhile, the polypill approach would only require about eight per cent uptake to achieve a better clinical outcome, the researchers argued. Scientists cited the polypill had “advantages of simplicity, effectiveness, safety and potential low cost”.
The authors of the paper, from University College London (UCL), suggested that if the government were to replace NHS health checks with an age-based polypill service, it could be a “flagship strategy in Labour’s commitment to disease prevention.”
“We have the means of preventing most heart attacks and strokes, many more than are currently being prevented. All that is required is to translate what we know into action.”
