VITATOPS Study - A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of vitamins to prevent stroke.

Funded Activity Summary

Stroke is one of the most important causes of death and long-term disability in developed countries. Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) is the major cause of stroke and heart attacks. High blood pressure, high blood concentrations of cholesterol, cigarette smoking and diabetes accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis, but they do not account for all strokes and heart attacks caused by atherosclerosis. There is now increasing evidence that high blood concentrations of homocysteine, a normal protein in the blood, are another major causal risk factor for atherosclerosis (and stroke and heart attacks). Furthermore, blood concentrations of homocysteine can be lowered by about one quarter with simple, safe and inexpensive multivitamin therapy (folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6). However, despite the potentially massive public health benefits of such a strategy, it remains to be demonstrated in properly designed clinical trials that lowering homocysteine levels in the blood actually prevents stroke and heart attack. The VITATOPS trial is the only ongoing randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in the world which aims to determine whether multivitamin therapy (folic acid 2 mg, vitamin B12 0.5 mg, and vitamin B6 25 mg) prevents recurrent stroke and heart attacks in patients who have suffered a recent stroke.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2006

End Date: 01-01-2008

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $1,477,963.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Preventive Medicine

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Atherosclerosis | Clinical Trials | Homocysteine | Hyperhomocysteinemia | Multivitamin Therapy - Folic Acid | Myocardial Infarction | Stroke | Transient Ischaemic Attack

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