Multivitamin Use and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Men.
Although multivitamins are widely used by US adults, few prospective studies have investigated their association with the long- and short-term risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD).



The aim of this study was to investigate how multivitamin use is associated with the risk of CVD in initially healthy men at baseline.



We studied 18,530 male physicians aged ≥40 y from the Physicians' Health Study I cohort who were free of CVD and cancer at baseline (1982). All men provided a wide range of self-reported lifestyle and clinical factors plus intake of selected foods and dietary supplements. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% CIs).



During a mean follow-up of 12.2 y (total of 225,287 person-years), there were 1697 incident cases of major CVD (defined as nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, and CVD death). In multivariable-adjusted analyses, no significant associations were observed among baseline multivitamin users compared with nonusers for the risk of major CVD events (HR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.05), whereas a self-reported duration of ≥20 y at baseline was associated with lower risk (HR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.90; P-trend = 0.05). Baseline multivitamin use was also significantly inversely associated with the risk of cardiac revascularization (HR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.75, 0.98). Baseline use of multivitamins was not significantly associated with other CVD endpoints.



In this long-term prospective study in initially healthy men, multivitamin use for ≥20 y was associated with a lower risk of major CVD events.
Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; susanne.rautiainen@ki.se.
Susanne
S
Rautiainen
Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Department of Epidemiology, and.
Pamela M
PM
Rist
Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA; and.
Robert J
RJ
Glynn
Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Department of Epidemiology, and.
Julie E
JE
Buring
Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA; VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA.
J Michael
JM
Gaziano
Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Aging, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA; Department of Epidemiology, and.
Howard D
HD
Sesso
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014815:Vitamins / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D014815:Vitamins
cardiovascular diseases; epidemiology cohort; multivitamin supplements; nutrition; prevention