Effect of supplemental vitamin E for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate and synthesize the evidence on the effect of supplements of vitamin E on the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.


METHODS
Systematic review of placebo-controlled randomized controlled trials; meta-analysis where justified.


RESULTS
Eighty-four eligible trials were identified. For the outcomes of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, and blood lipids, neither supplements of vitamin E alone nor vitamin E given with other agents yielded a statistically significant beneficial or adverse pooled relative risk (for example, pooled relative risk of vitamin E alone = 0.96 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.84 to 1.10]; 0.97 [95% CI, 0.80 to 1.90]; and 0.72 [95% CI, 0.51 to 1.02] for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and nonfatal myocardial infarction, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
There is good evidence that vitamin E supplementation does not beneficially or adversely affect cardiovascular outcomes.
Shekelle
Paul G
PG
Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center, Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California, USA. shekekke@rand.org
Morton
Sally C
SC
Jungvig
Lara K
LK
Udani
Jay
J
Spar
Myles
M
Tu
Wenli
W
J  Suttorp
Marika
M
Coulter
Ian
I
Newberry
Sydne J
SJ
Hardy
Mary
M
D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002423:Cause of Death; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D008055:Lipids; D014810:Vitamin E