Polypill and RiscOMeter to Prevent StrOke and CogniTive ImpairmEnt (PROMOTE)

Background and Aims The increasing burden of stroke and dementia provides strong evidence that current primary prevention strategies are insufficient, as 80% of strokes occur in individuals with low to moderate risk. The purpose of this study is to test whether a polypill, used alone or in combination with lifestyle modification, will reduce the incidence of stroke and cognitive impairment in a population with low to moderate stroke risk.

Methods

This is a phase III, multicenter, prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial of 8,518 subjects with low to moderate stroke risk, followed for 3 years. The study will include 80 Health Units affiliated with 20 research centers in Brazil. After a run-in phase (30 days, all participants with active drug), participants will be randomized to receive either the polypill (valsartan 80 mg, amlodipine 5 mg, and rosuvastatin 10 mg) or a placebo (with dose adjustment of amlodipine to 2.5 mg for patients experiencing adverse events), and to either use the Stroke Riskometer for lifestyle modification or receive usual care. It will be included: (1)adults aged 50-75 years; (2) no previous history of stroke, TIA or cardiovascular disease; (3)systolic blood pressure (BP) 121-139 mmHg; (4) one or more lifestyle risk factors (smoking, overweight, physical inactivity or inadequate diet. It will be excluded patients with hypercholesterolemia or diabetes or take other antihypertensive drugs or open label statins. Subjects will be randomized under a minimization process:

• Age: 50-64 vs 65-75

• Sex: men vs women

• BP: 121-130 vs 131-139

• Education level: <5 years vs > 5 years

• Total Cholesterol: <5 mmol (194 mg/dl) vs <5 mmol (194 mg/dl)

The study will be conducted in 2 parts:

Part 1. Family Health Strategy Units (10 clusters) located in Porto Alegre will be eligible to participate in part 1, which will assess surrogate endpoints in 370 patients included in the study in 9 months (blood pressure reduction and change in stroke risk by the scale LS7). Also we will evaluate the strategies, and barriers for implementation and adverse events.

Part 2. 80 Family Health Strategy Units, affiliated with 20 research centers, in the 5 Brazilian regions, 8,518 participants followed for 3 years measuring stroke incidence and cognitive decline rate as the primary outcome. Expected results in primary outcome: to reduce the incidence of stroke and cognitive decline in the group of polypill and / or polypill + Riskometer. Secondary outcome: to reduce stroke, MI and cardiovascular death.