Vitamin E and age-related macular degeneration in a randomized trial of women.
OBJECTIVE
To test whether alternate day vitamin E affects the incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a large-scale randomized trial of women.


METHODS
Randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial.


METHODS
Thirty-nine thousand eight hundred seventy-six apparently healthy female health professionals aged 45 years or older.


METHODS
Participants were assigned randomly to receive either 600 IU of natural-source vitamin E on alternate days or placebo.


METHODS
Incident AMD responsible for a reduction in best-corrected visual acuity to 20/30 or worse based on self-report confirmed by medical record review.


RESULTS
After 10 years of treatment and follow-up, there were 117 cases of AMD in the vitamin E group and 128 cases in the placebo group (relative risk, 0.93; 95% confidence interval, 0.72-1.19).


CONCLUSIONS
In a large-scale randomized trial of female health professionals, long-term alternate-day use of 600 IU of natural-source vitamin E had no large beneficial or harmful effect on risk of AMD.
Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. wchristen@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
William G
WG
Christen
Robert J
RJ
Glynn
Emily Y
EY
Chew
Julie E
JE
Buring
D000368:Aged; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016387:Women's Health
D000975:Antioxidants; D014810:Vitamin E