Folic Acid Supplementation Mitigates Alzheimer’s Disease by Reducing Inflammation: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Table 2
Baseline characteristics of the study population.
Profile
Intervention group ()
Control group ()
P value
Demography
Age at diagnosis, years (mean SD)
68.10 8.50
67.63 7.92
0.756
Males, number (%)
33 (54.10)
28 (46.67)
0.414
Education, years (mean SD)
10.07 4.08
9.27 4.39
0.302
Lifestyle
Right-handedness, number (%)
57 (93.44)
53 (88.33)
0.363
Marital status: married, number (%)
50 (81.97)
49 (81.67)
0.966
Living with others, number (%)
60 (98.36)
58 (96.67)
0.619
Smoking, number (%)
12 (19.67)
14 (23.33)
0.624
Consuming alcohol, number (%)
10 (16.39)
12 (20.00)
0.607
BMI (mean SD), kg/m2
23.25 3.06
23.58 4.28
0.623
Profession: intellectual work, number (%)
32 (52.46)
28 (46.67)
0.524
Family history, number (%)
16 (26.23)
15 (25.00)
0.877
Comorbid disease, (%)
25 (40.98)
26 (43.33)
0.794
Biochemical measures
Folate (nmol/L) [median (, )]
11.98 (8.04, 17.68)
10.76 (7.53, 16.37)
0.484
Vitamin B12 (pmol/L) [median (, )]
289.96 (233.88, 406.16)
329.06 (231.86, 455.04)
0.446
Medicine on AD
AChEI, number (%)
61 (100.00)
60 (100.00)
1.000
Memantine, number (%)
10 (16.39)
13 (15.48)
0.460
MMSE (mean SD)
18.56 6.23
17.63 7.77
0.471
ADL (mean SD)
32.87 10.88
33.97 13.42
0.622
Folate insufficiency
18 (29.51)
24 (40.00)
0.225
AChEI: acetylcholinesterase inhibitor; AD: Alzheimer’s disease; ADL: activities of daily living. Domains of comorbidity include diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, transient cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral trauma, Parkinson’s disease, CO poisoning, tumor, exposure to heavy metals, anxiety, and depression. Results are expressed as proportion, mean SD, or median (, ). Comparisons between intervention groups and controls were performed by two-tailed Student’s -test (for normally distributed data) and Mann-Whitney test (for skewed distribution). Pearson’s chi-square and Fisher’s Exact Test were performed for frequencies analysis; : number of individuals. P < 0.05, significant difference between groups; based on WHO definitions of folate sufficiency [below 9.06 nmol/L (4 ng/mL)].
