Table 1.
General characteristics for the FASSTT participants in this study
| Characteristics | Placebo | Folic acid | P value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Mean | SD | N | Mean | SD | ||
| Neonatal characteristics | n = 52 | n = 41 | |||||
| Gestational age (weeks) | 40.13 | 1.19 | 39.98 | 1.11 | 0.511 | ||
| Sex, male n (%) | 26 (50) | - | 22 (53.7) | - | 0.726 | ||
| Birth weight (g) | 3555.75 | 486.33 | 3557.07 | 464.62 | 0.989 | ||
| Birth length (cm) | 51.28 | 2.60 | 51.12 | 2.17 | 0.763 | ||
| Head circumference (cm) | 35.67 | 1.26 | 34.82 | 1.37 | 0.563 | ||
| Apgar score at 5 min | 8.94 | 0.37 | 9.02 | 0.27 | 0.234 | ||
| Caesarean n (%) | 12 (23.1) | - | 10 (24.4) | - | 0.882 | ||
| B vitamin biomarkers (cord blood) | |||||||
| Serum folate (nmol/L) | 66.80 | 24.39 | 91.66 | 36.71 | < 0.001* | ||
| RBC folate (nmol/L) | 1437.76 | 584.06 | 1877.33 | 700.93 | 0.003* | ||
| Serum B12 (pmol/L) | 277.29 | 154.66 | 251.39 | 107.07 | 0.369 | ||
| Plasma homocysteine (µmol/L) | 11.19 | 6.85 | 11.11 | 4.87 | 0.952 | ||
| Characteristics at 11 years of age | n = 31 | n = 36 | |||||
| Age (years) | 10.78 | 0.12 | 10.82 | 0.43 | 0.586 | ||
| Sex, male n (%) | 15 (48.3) | - | 15 (41.6) | - | 0.317 | ||
| Weight (kg) | 39.31 | 9.62 | 37.68 | 7.15 | 0.430 | ||
| Height (cm) | 147.06 | 6.18 | 147.63 | 8.15 | 0.810 | ||
| BMI (kg/m2) | 18.03 | 3.66 | 17.48 | 2.80 | 0.487 | ||
| Head circumference (cm) | 55.18 | 2.79 | 54.69 | 2.15 | 0.427 | ||
| B vitamin biomarkers (11 years of age) | n = 13 | n = 10 | |||||
| RBC folate (nmol/L) | 581.98 | 144.24 | 616.94 | 291.48 | 0.709 | ||
| Serum B12 (pmol/L) | 511.76 | 186.18 | 522.40 | 134.80 | 0.880 | ||
| Plasma Homocysteine (µmol/L) | 7.02 | 1.39 | 7.60 | 2.18 | 0.449 | ||
Statistical comparisons by independent t-test (continuous variables) or chi-squared test (categorical variables) BMI body mass index, RBC red blood cell, SD standard deviation, N number of samples
*p < 0.05