Thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented by offering people over 50 a daily pill, experts say. Currently the NHS provides a health check for those in this age group every five years – but this system could now be replaced. A single ‘polypill’ has been found to slash the number of heart attacks and strokes in older people by as much as a third, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The tablet contains a statin and a combination of three blood pressure-lowering drugs. Researchers said that the pill could replace the NHS’s five-yearly health assessment for adults aged between 40 and 74 to assess their cholesterol and heart health. If implemented this could be a major policy initiative for the Labour government, which intends to push the NHS towards preventative medicine. The evidence base behind the polypill approach is widely accepted as ‘sufficient as a strategy for the primary prevention of heart attacks and strokes’, according to the BMJ.

Thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented by offering people over 50 a daily pill, experts say (stock image)

Professor Aroon Hingorani (pictured), co-author of the study, said that the ‘status quo is not a justifiable option’ for sufficiently preventing disease in Britain

A single ‘polypill’, combining a statin and three blood pressure-lowering drugs, has been found to slash the number of heart attacks and strokes in older people by as much as a third, according to research published in The Lancet (stock image). Professor Aroon Hingorani, co-author of the study, said that the ‘status quo is not a justifiable option’ for sufficiently preventing disease in Britain.

The existing preventative measure tests the over-forties for high cholesterol and blood pressure as well as signs of heart disease and prescribes preventative drugs as needed. Hingorani told The Times: ‘Now is the time to do much better on prevention. A population-wide approach could prevent many more heart attacks and strokes than the current strategy.’ A programme prescribing the polypill is only expected to require 8 per cent of those eligible in Britain to opt for the pill to achieve a greater benefit than the health check. A 2003 paper, cited by Hingorani and his co-author Professor Sir Nicholas Wald, estimated that a polypill for over-55s could prevent about 80 per cent of heart attacks and strokes.

Results from a randomised controlled trial revealed that when older adults took a polypill for five years, their risk of major cardiovascular events was reduced by about a third. The authors suggested a trial run in the UK where costs and uptake of the treatment could be assessed. Heart attacks and strokes rise with age and make a major contribution to increasing healthcare costs. In the UK more than 7 million people are living with cardiovascular disease. Around 100,000 people have a heart attack and more than 100,000 people have a stroke every year.