Does the Polypill Improve Patient Adherence Compared to Its Individual Formulations? A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Public Health

Background:

• Medication non-adherence is a significant challenge, particularly for patients with multiple chronic conditions and a high pill burden.
• Simplified medication regimens are crucial for improving patient compliance and therapeutic outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and assess the impact of polypill formulations on medication adherence.
• To synthesize evidence from peer-reviewed literature on polypill efficacy in improving adherence.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Scopus for articles published between January 2000 and May 2019.
• Sixty-seven original peer-reviewed articles were selected, focusing solely on medication adherence as the outcome measure.

Main Results:

• A significant improvement in medication adherence was observed with polypill regimens in 84% (56 out of 67) of the selected studies.
• These findings were corroborated by 13 out of 17 previously published systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the topic.

Conclusions:

• Polypill formulations demonstrably enhance medication adherence by simplifying complex treatment plans.
• The growing interest in polypill research is driven by their potential to overcome adherence barriers, although current studies often focus on limited medical conditions.