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Original Article
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Volume 354:1567-1577 April 13, 2006 Number 15
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Homocysteine Lowering with Folic Acid and B Vitamins in Vascular Disease
The Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) 2 Investigators

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ABSTRACT

Background In observational studies, lower homocysteine levels are associated with lower rates of coronary heart disease and stroke. Folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 lower homocysteine levels. We assessed whether supplementation reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events in patients with vascular disease.

Methods We randomly assigned 5522 patients 55 years of age or older who had vascular disease or diabetes to daily treatment either with the combination of 2.5 mg of folic acid, 50 mg of vitamin B6, and 1 mg of vitamin B12 or with placebo for an average of five years. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, and stroke.

Results Mean plasma homocysteine levels decreased by 2.4 µmol per liter (0.3 mg per liter) in the active-treatment group and increased by 0.8 µmol per liter (0.1 mg per liter) in the placebo group. Primary outcome events occurred in 519 patients (18.8 percent) assigned to active therapy and 547 (19.8 percent) assigned to placebo (relative risk, 0.95; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.84 to 1.07; P=0.41). As compared with placebo, active treatment did not significantly decrease the risk of death from cardiovascular causes (relative risk, 0.96; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.81 to 1.13), myocardial infarction (relative risk, 0.98; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.85 to 1.14), or any of the secondary outcomes. Fewer patients assigned to active treatment than to placebo had a stroke (relative risk, 0.75; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.59 to 0.97). More patients in the active-treatment group were hospitalized for unstable angina (relative risk, 1.24; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.04 to 1.49).

Conclusions Supplements combining folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 did not reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events in patients with vascular disease. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00106886 [ClinicalTrials.gov] ; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN14017017 [controlled-trials.com] .)


Source Information

The Writing Group (Eva Lonn, M.D., and Salim Yusuf, D.Phil., M.B., B.S., Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, and the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ont.; Malcolm J. Arnold, M.D., Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Western Ontario, London; Patrick Sheridan, M.Sc., Janice Pogue, M.Sc., and Mary Micks, C.T.R.C., Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont.; Matthew J. McQueen, M.D., Ph.D., Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont.; Jeffrey Probstfield, M.D., University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle; George Fodor, M.D., Ph.D., University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa; Claes Held, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Cardiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm; and Jacques Genest, Jr., M.D., Division of Cardiology, McGill University Health Center and Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal) assumes responsibility for the overall content and integrity of the manuscript.

This article was published at www.nejm.org on March 12, 2006.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Lonn at the Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton General Hospital, 237 Barton St. East, Hamilton, ON L8L 2X2, Canada, or at lonnem{at}mcmaster.ca.

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