In a landmark paper in 2003 Wald and Law coined the term "polypill", a pill containing antihypertensives, antiplatelet (aspirin), statin, and folic acid.1 They estimated giving the polypill to those above the age of 55 years irrespective of cardiovascular risk Would result in 88% reduction in ischaemic heart disease and 80% reduction in stroke.1 Principle risk factors lowered by the polypill are blood pressure by anti-hypertensives (such as ACE Inhibitors and thiazide diuretics) and LDL cholesterol by using statins. The rationale relies on the fact there is no threshold below which reduction of such risk factors does not confer a beneficial effect. Although evidence for folic acid, which lowers the homocysteine levels, another marker of cardiovascular disease, has been refuted2 all other components have proven track record to substantially reduce myocardial infarction and stroke.
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