Vitamin and calcium supplement use is associated with decreased adenoma recurrence in patients with a previous history of neoplasia

INTRODUCTION: Although some have suggested that certain vitamins or calcium supplements may reduce adenoma recurrence, our own prior retrospective study found no such effects. The purpose of this case-control study was to further investigate whether regular vitamin or calcium supplement intake influenced the incidence of recurrent adenomatous polyps in patients with previous neoplasia who were undergoing follow-up colonoscopy. METHODS: This study enrolled 1,162 patients who underwent colonoscopy by one of three surgeons at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City between March 1993 and February 1997. Of these patients 448 (250 males) had a previous diagnosis of colorectal neoplasia (cancer, adenomas, or dysplasia). Of these, 183 (40.8 percent) had an adenoma at the index colonoscopy. Information was collected on personal and family history of colonic diseases, cigarette smoking, medication, and vitamin and micronutrient supplement usage on a questionnaire that was completed by the patients before the colonoscopy. Odds ratios were obtained by unconditional logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age and gender, and used adenoma recurrence at index colonoscopy as the outcome. RESULTS: The mean interval between colonoscopic examinations was 37 months for the recurrent adenoma group and 38 months for the nonrecurrent group of patients (P = not significant). In this case- control study we found a protective effect for the use of vitamin supplements in general (any vitamin) on the recurrence of adenomas (odds ratio, 0.41; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.27-0.61). Specifically, this protective effect was observed for the use of multivitamins (odds ratio, 0.47; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.31-0.72), vitamin E (odds ratio, 0.62; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.39-0.98), and for calcium supplementation (odds ratio, 0.51; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.27-0.96). Nonsignificant protective effects were noted for carotene/vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin C. CONCLUSIONS: The use of multivitamins, vitamin E, and calcium supplements were found to be associated with a lower incidence of recurrent adenomas in a population of patients with history of previous colonic neoplasia. Prospective, randomized trials are needed to better assess the impact of these agents and to determine whether the use of these supplements is associated with a protective effect against recurrent adenomas.