title: Effects of multivitamin supplement on cataract and age-related macular degeneration in a randomized trial of male physicians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether long-term multivitamin supplementation affects the incidence of cataract or age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a large cohort of men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 14,641 US male physicians aged ≥ 50 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Daily multivitamin or placebo.
  
  
  METHODS
  Incident cataract and visually significant AMD responsible for a reduction in best-corrected visual acuity to 20/30 or worse based on self-reports confirmed by medical record review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During an average of 11.2 years of treatment and follow-up, a total of 1817 cases of cataract and 281 cases of visually significant AMD were confirmed. There were 872 cataracts in the multivitamin group and 945 cataracts in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83-0.99; P = 0.04). For visually significant AMD, there were 152 cases in the multivitamin group and 129 cases in the placebo group (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.94-1.50; P = 0.15).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These randomized trial data from a large cohort of middle-aged and older US male physicians indicate that long-term daily multivitamin use modestly and significantly decreased the risk of cataract but had no significant effect on visually significant AMD.
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: wchristen@rics.bwh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Christen
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Glynn
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Joann E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Manson
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: MacFadyen
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bubes
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schvartz
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Julie E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Buring
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Howard D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Sesso
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gaziano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002386:Cataract / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D014815:Vitamins / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D014815:Vitamins