This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

SEARCH: Homocysteine reductions with folic acid and vitamin B12 did not benefit vascular outcomes

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Substantial long-term reductions in blood homocysteine levels with folic acid and vitamin B12 supplementation had no beneficial effects on vascular outcomes, according to study findings.

The Study of the Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine (SEARCH) was a double blind, randomized, controlled trial, in which 12,064 survivors of MI in secondary care hospitals in the United Kingdom between 1998 and 2008 were given 2 mg folic acid plus 1 mg vitamin B12 daily vs. matching placebo. The main outcome measure was the first major vascular event, defined as a major coronary event (coronary death, MI or coronary revascularization), fatal or nonfatal stroke, or noncoronary revascularization.

Supplementation of the vitamins reduced homocysteine by a mean of 3.8 mcmol/L (28%). During the 6.7-years of follow-up, major vascular events occurred in 1,537 participants of the supplementation group (n=6,033) vs. 1,493 of participants allocated placebo (n=6,031; RR=1.04; 95% CI, 0.97-1.12). Researchers reported no apparent effects on major coronary events (vitamins, 1,229 vs. placebo, 1,185; RR=1.05; 95% CI, 0.97-1.13), stroke (vitamins, 269, vs. placebo, 265; RR=1.02; 95% CI, 0.86-1.21) or noncoronary revascularizations (vitamins, 178 vs. placebo, 152; RR=1.18; 95% CI, 0.95-1.46). There was also no significant difference in the number of deaths attributed to vascular causes (vitamins, 578 vs. placebo, 559) or nonvascular causes (vitamins, 405 vs. placebo, 392).

“These results highlight the importance of focusing on drug treatments (eg, aspirin, statins and antihypertensive therapy) and lifestyle changes (in particular, stopping smoking and avoiding excessive weight gain) that are of proven benefit, rather than lowering homocysteine with folic acid–based vitamin supplements for the prevention of CV disease,” the researchers concluded.

Armitage JM. JAMA. 2010;303:2486-2494.

Follow CardiologyToday.com on Twitter.