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.
Keywords: Polypharmacy, cardiovascular medicine, polypill, cardiovascular disease, drug interactions, comorbidity.
Graphical Abstract
Call for Papers in Thematic Issues
Medicinal Plants with Beneficial Properties on Diabetes and Hypertension
Diabetes and hypertension are real scourges of the 21st century. It is imperative to act in order to find innovative solutions to this problem. Taking medications such as hypoglycemic and antihypertensive drugs may aggravate certain underlying comorbidities, such as chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. This significant drawback therefore requires ...read more
Related Journals
Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry
Anti-Inflammatory & Anti-Allergy Agents in Medicinal Chemistry
Current Bioactive Compounds
Current Cancer Drug Targets
Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening
Current Cancer Therapy Reviews
Current Diabetes Reviews
Current Drug Safety
Current Drug Targets
Current Drug Therapy
Related Books
Drug Addiction Mechanisms in the Brain
Software and Programming Tools in Pharmaceutical Research
Objective Pharmaceutics: A Comprehensive Compilation of Questions and Answers for Pharmaceutics Exam Prep
Medicinal Chemistry of Drugs Affecting Cardiovascular and Endocrine Systems
Advanced Pharmacy
Plant-derived Hepatoprotective Drugs
The Role of Chromenes in Drug Discovery and Development
New Avenues in Drug Discovery and Bioactive Natural Products
Practice and Re-Emergence of Herbal Medicine
Blood Oxidant Ties: The Evolving Concepts in Myocardial Injury and Cardiovascular Disease
99
7
1
1