BMJ  2003;327:808-809 (4 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7418.808-c

Letter

"Polypill" to fight cardiovascular disease

Cost effectiveness of statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular events is questionable

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The presence of a statin in the "Polypill" implies a favourable cost effectiveness of the anticholesterol agent for primary prevention.^{1 2} Medline reports 18 original studies (from 1995 to June 2003) evaluating the cost effectiveness of statins for this indication (8 independent, 10 sponsored³).

In the eight independent reports, the interstudy variations in the cost per life year gained are extremely wide ($C7700 to $US420 000 in men), which shows a profound uncertainty in the convenience of this indication of statins.

On the other hand, the 10 sponsored reports raise the question of whether the sponsor has any influence on the study. The results of these 10 papers are always in favour of the statin produced by the sponsor (10/10; 100%; P = 0.00098 by Signs test).

The figure summarises five studies; the other five (not presented in the figure because their results are not costs per life . . . [Full text of this article]

andreamessori@interfree.it

Laboratorio di Farmacoeconomia, c/o Pharmaceutical Service, Careggi Hospital, Viale Morgagni 85, I-50134 Florence, Italy

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Franco, O. H, Steyerberg, E. W, Peeters, A., Bonneux, L. (2006). Effectiveness calculation in economic analysis: the case of statins for cardiovascular disease prevention.. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 60: 839-845 [Abstract] [Full text]  
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