Authors: Niteesh K Choudhry Wolfgang C Winkelmayer
Publish Date: 2008/01/08
Volume: 23, Issue: 2, Pages: 216-218
Abstract
Coronary heart disease CHD remains the leading cause of death in the USA and other developed countries and may soon become the leading cause of death in the developing world as well12 More than 1 million Americans have an acute myocardial infarction MI every year3 In 2006 CHD is estimated to have accounted for more than 140 billion in direct and indirect health care costs3Medications for the treatment and prevention of CHDrelated events have been subject to rigorous evaluation in trials involving hundreds of thousands of patients and practice guidelines recommend that postMI patients receive treatment with a betablocker a lipid lowering agent an angiotensin converting enzyme ACE inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker and aspirin4 unless a contraindication exists Taken in combination these drugs have been estimated to reduce the relative risk of CHD mortality by 80 as compared to placebo5
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