Multivitamins in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in men: the Physicians' Health Study II randomized controlled trial.

Study answer

What this study found

Daily multivitamin use did not reduce major cardiovascular events over a mean 11.2 years of follow-up. Major cardiovascular events were 876 versus 856 with multivitamin versus placebo, with adjusted HR 1.01 (0.91-1.10; P = .91). There was no meaningful effect on total MI, stroke, cardiovascular death, or total mortality. MI death was lower overall (27 vs 43; HR 0.61, 0.38-0.995; P = .048), but the authors noted this may have been due to chance; in men without baseline CVD, MI death remained lower (HR 0.56, 0.33-0.95; P = .03).

Study & population

This was a long-term randomized controlled trial in US male physicians aged 50 years or older enrolled in the Physicians' Health Study II.

Intervention

For the multivitamin arm, 7317 participants were randomized and analyzed.

Key limitation

The cohort was limited to older US male physicians, so generalizability is restricted.

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Original abstract