The Middle-Aged and Older American: Wrong Prototype for a Preventive Polypill?

摘要

Any way you look at them, the numbers are staggering. In the coming year, about 1.2 million Americans will have a first or recurrent coronary attack and about 700 000 will have a new or recurrent stroke (1). Most Americans older than age 35 years have 1 or more vascular risk factors. More than one third of them have hypercholesterolemia (2). One fifth of adult Americans smoke, and most have inactive lifestyles (3). One third have high blood pressure, more than 30% are obese, and nearly 10% have diabetes (4).