Dietary Supplement Use in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease

Dietary supplements and herbs (called naturoceuticals) are commonly used by Americans, but little is known about their use in cardiovascular disease patient populations. The objective was to evaluate naturoceutical use in a sample population of cardiovascular disease patients in the U.S.

A non-blinded, single medical center clinic open questionnaire was delivered to cardiovascular clinic patients with known cardiovascular diseases.

Estimation of naturoceutical usage prevalence and frequency in the sample population of cardiovascular disease patients. A total of 163 patients (n = 99 males, 64 females) participated (mean age: males, 66 years; females, 64 years). Overall, 76.7 percent of participants reported using naturoceuticals. Of them, about 63.2 percent took more than one type, and 90.3 percent reported daily usage. Of the naturoceuticals reportedly being taken, multivitamins containing vitamin K were the most commonly consumed (32.3 percent male, 29.7 percent female), followed by vitamin D (23.2 percent male, 31.3 percent female) and fish oil (24.2 percent male, 15.6 percent female).

The present study revealed that naturoceutical use was very popular in cardiovascular disease patients, largely due to the belief that they could reduce and/or prevent symptoms and disease in general. The benefits and hazards of those naturoceuticals being used concurrent with other prescription medications were discussed.