Correction for El-Kadiki and Sutton, BMJ 330 (7496) 871.

BMJ  2005;331:142 (16 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7509.142

Correction

Role of multivitamins and mineral supplements in preventing infections in elderly people: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Only after the publication of this article by Alia El-Kadiki and Alexander J Sutton (BMJ 2005;330:871, 16 Apr ) did the authors and editors become aware that doubts had been raised about the validity of three of the trials included in this systematic review.

The BMJ and the authors agreed that further analysis would be helpful, and the authors have therefore conducted a sensitivity analysis excluding data from the three questionable trials.This is now published as a supplement to the original paper (see http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmj.38399.495648.8F/DC2).

The effect on the three outcome measures is as follows: (a) mean difference in number of days spent with infection: only the three questionable studies met the inclusion criteria, so the originally published beneficial difference of 17.5 (95% confidence interval 11 to 24) days is now completely discounted; (b) odds ratio of at least one infection in the study period: no change from published meta-analysis; (c) incidence rate ratio for the difference in infection rates: exclusion of the one questionable trial that was relevant to this outcome means that the pooled incidence rate is now 1.00 (0.85 to 1.17), not 0.89 (0.78 to 1.03) as published.

If the allegations that these three studies are not reliable are true then the remaining evidence base suggests no benefit for the use of multivitamins for preventing infections in elderly people.

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Relevant Article

Investigating allegations of scientific misconduct

Jane Smith and Fiona Godlee
BMJ 2005 331: 245-246. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Shenkin, A (2006). Micronutrients in health and disease.. Postgrad. Med. J. 82: 559-567 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Ford Thomas, C. (2006). Review: multivitamins and mineral supplements do not reduce infections in elderly people. Evid. Based Nurs. 9: 24-24 [Full text]  
• Conners, V. L (2006). Multivitamin and multimineral supplements did not reduce reported infection days or related use of healthcare services in elderly people. Evid. Based Nurs. 9: 25-25 [Full text]  
• Smith, J., Godlee, F. (2005). Investigating allegations of scientific misconduct. BMJ 331: 245-246 [Full text]  

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