Multivitamin use and the risk of myocardial infarction a population-based cohort of Swedish women

Background Dietary supplements are widely used in industrialized countries Objective The objective was to examine the association between multivitamin use and myocardial infarction (MI) in a prospective population based cohort of women Design The study included 31 671 women with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 2262 women with a history of CVD aged 49-83 y from Sweden Women completed a self administered questionnaire in 1997 regarding dietary supplement use diet and lifestyle factors Multivitamins were estimated to contain nutrients close to recommended daily allowances vitamin A (0 9 mg) vitamin C (60 mg) vitamin D (a mu g) vitamin E (9 mg) thiamine (1 2 mg) riboflavin (1 4 mg) vitamin B-6 (1 8 mg) vitamin B-12 (3 mu g), and folic acid (400 mu g) Results During an average of 10 2 y of follow up 932 MI cases were identified in the CVD free group and 269 cases in the CVD group In the CVD-free group use of multivitamins only, compared with no use of supplements was associated with a multivariable adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 073 (95% CI 057 0 93) The HR for multivitamin use together with other supplements was 0 70 (95% CI 0 57 0 87) The HR for use of supplements other than multivitamins was 093 (95% CI 081 1 08) The use of multivitamins for >= 5 y was associated with an HR of 0 59 (95% CI 044 0 80) In the CVD group use of multivitamins alone or together with other supplements was not associated with MI Conclusions The use of multivitamins was inversely associated with MI especially long term use among women with no CVD Further prospective studies with detailed information on the content of preparations and the duration of use are needed to confirm or refute our findings Am J Clin Nutr 2010 92 1251-6