Title:Polypharmacy in Cardiovascular Medicine: Problems and Promises!
Volume: 15
Issue: 1
Author(s): Mehran Abolbashari*, Tracy E. Macaulay, Thomas F. Whayne, Debabrata Mukherjee and Sibu Saha
Affiliation:
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso, Texas, TX,United States
Keywords:
Polypharmacy, cardiovascular medicine, polypill, cardiovascular disease, drug interactions, comorbidity.
Abstract: Background: Polypharmacy is now a frequent aspect and reality of current medicine practice,
driven by managing multiple comorbidities, especially in older adults. However and unfortunately,
polypharmacy can expose patients to adverse drug reactions, and drug-drug or drug-disease interactions.
On the other hand, clinicians are often hesitant to add new drugs to complex regimens even when recommended
by evidence-based medicine and guidelines. In addition, there is frequently a failure to assess
which medications might not be beneficial and may therefore be stopped.
Method: Cardiovascular disease prevalence is increasing despite the efforts to prevent this with pandemics
of obesity and diabetes as leading causes. The healthcare system is facing an increasing number
of cardiovascular diseases in older patients with multiple comorbidities. New cardiovascular guidelines
encourage multiple drug use to control these conditions and improve mortality and morbidity. However,
use of multiple drugs can lead to inappropriate drug interactions and increased adverse outcomes. On
the other hand, the so-called polypill has been proposed as a means to decrease the burden of multiple
medications as well as increase cardiovascular disease prevention.
Conclusion: This review discusses multiple issues of polypharmacy and its challenges, with a focus on
cardiovascular diseases.
