Review: multivitamins and mineral supplements do not reduce infections in elderly people
Q In elderly people, do multivitamins and mineral supplements reduce the risk of infections more than placebo?
METHODS
Data sources:
AMED, Biological Abstracts, British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Science and Social Science Citation Indexes, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, EBM reviews, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, IBIDS, Medline, NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination databases, and PreMedline (1966 to January 2004); searches of published reviews, guidelines, Health Evidence Bulletin Wales, and conference abstracts; and reference lists of relevant articles.
Study selection and assessment:
randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the effects of a combination of multivitamins and mineral supplements with placebo in elderly people and reported infection related outcomes. Study quality was assessed using the 5 point Jadad scale.
Outcomes:
days with infection, incidence of ⩾1 infection during the study period, infection rate, and adverse events.
MAIN RESULTS
Of the 8 RCTs that met the selection criteria, 5 had Jadad scale scores of 4 out of …
