Researchers and physicians are always puzzled as to why most people avoid using medication as a way of controlling or preventing heart disease. In the US, heart disease is the top killer among adults and according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 600 000 people succumbed to the disease in 2012.

Even though most people would opt to ward the disease by taking a daily pill, 30 percent of survey participants regarded this as diminishing the quality of life leading them not to take the medication. And over the course of the year, data showed that most of them end up not taking drugs for preventing heart disease altogether.

Years of life vs. quality of life

When conducting the research, 1000 people aged above 30 were surveyed where they were asked questions on the internet to ascertain their preferences in regarding to use a daily pill hypothetically as a way of preventing cardiovascular disease.

  • 70 percent of the participants were not willing to trade off their years of life.
  • Some were ready to avoid pills and trade a couple of weeks in their lifespan
  • More than 10 percent were willing to avoid using pills and trade one or two years of their life.
  • Patients were ready to pay $1445 on average and avoid the daily pills

Taking the pills on a daily basis to prevent cardiovascular ailment comes with an effect on the quality of life. Everyone has his or her preferences when it comes to the things they find most valuable in life. Any physician must understand that putting a person on medication regardless of how harmless it appears should be a mutual decision made between the provider and the patient. Even though the research came with an assurance that most people will still take pills, it also revealed that there are a lot of unknown things when it comes to heart disease prevention.

Treating heart disease symptoms with medications

Pills availed for prevention of heart disease usually aims at controlling high cholesterol or blood pressure. However, since this doesn’t come with any obvious symptoms, the patients are usually advised to include a daily routine which doesn’t come with an immediate, clear benefit. The patients must perfectly understand why taking the medication is of great importance. Still, the researchers didn’t understand why patients would opt not to use the daily pills. In their report, the researchers noted the need to for the policymakers to address various issues like the costs of the drugs, difficulties of getting the prescription refilled by a physician or going to the pharmacy and picking the medication. More research actually needs to be done in this area in order to understand the best ways of fighting heart disease.