Comparative efficacy of vitamin supplements on prevention of major cardiovascular disease: Systematic review with network meta-analysis

Vitamins are commonly used in the prevention of major cardiovascular disease. However, the efficacy and optimum choice remain controversial. To compare and rank the relative efficacy among all available vitamin preparations for cardiovascular disease through a network meta-analysis. Eligible studies were identified by searching PubMed, Embase, Medline, Cochrane library and Web of Science for randomized controlled trials. A random effects model was applied within a frequentist framework. Forty-two articles (45 comparisons, 384,248 participants), including nine vitamin interventions, were identified. Vitamin D had the highest probability of being ranked best in effectiveness (0.84 [0.72, 0.98]) on prevention of cardiovascular events. With regard to reducing death of cardiovascular disease rate, vitamin E was considered better efficacy. Vitamin B, D and E could reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events to varying degrees. At the same time, the combination of vitamins can not show improvement on the efficacy.