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Article: Does vitamin E cause heart failure?(Literature Review & Commentary)
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
- Article date:
- August 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation (HOPE) study, 9,541 patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes, plus one other cardiovascular risk factor, were randomly assigned to receive, in double-blind fashion, 400 IU/day of vitamin E (RRR-alpha-tocopheryl acetate) or placebo, and either an angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor (ramipril) or placebo, for a mean of 4.5 years. Results of the study showed that ramipril was beneficial, but vitamin E was not.
At the end of the study, 6,786 patients agreed to enter a continuation phase, in which all patients received ramipril, and 3,994 patients were randomly assigned to receive 400 IU/day of vitamin E or ...