Intervention With Vitamin D and Omega-3 Supplements and Incident Heart Failure

Intervention With Vitamin D and Omega-3 Supplements and Incident Heart Failure

This study will examine whether an intervention with vitamin D or fish oil supplements can reduce the risk of heart failure among adult men and women during a follow up period of up to five years (starting from the time of randomization into the parent VITAL trial). The investigators hypotheses are that both vitamin D and fish oil supplements will each reduce the risk of heart failure.

For this ancillary study of the ongoing parent VITAL trial, we will adjudicate incident heart failure cases occurring during a time period of up to five years starting from randomization of subjects in the parent VITAL study. Intention-to-treat analysis will be used to assess the efficacy of vitamin D as well as omega-3 fatty acids.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Men aged 50 or older or women aged 55 or older
• Be consuming no more than 800 IU of vitamin D from all supplemental sources combined (individual vitamin D supplements, calcium+vitamin D supplements, medications with vitamin D [e.g., Fosamax Plus D], and multivitamins), or, if taking, willing to decrease or forego such use during the trial;
• Be consuming no more than 1200 mg/d of calcium from all supplemental sources combined, or, if taking, willing to decrease or forego such use during the trial;
• Not be taking fish oil supplements, or, if taking, willing to forego their use during the trial

Exclusion Criteria:

• prevalent heart failure
• History of cancer (except non-melanoma skin cancer), heart attack, stroke, transient ischemic attack, angina pectoris, CABG, or PCI
• History of renal failure or dialysis, hypercalcemia, hypo- or hyperparathyroidism, severe liver disease (cirrhosis), or sarcoidosis or other granulomatous diseases such as active chronic tuberculosis or Wegener's granulomatosis;
• Allergy to fish or soy