Table 1.
Characteristics of the 12 available trials of treatment based on folic acid
| Report | No of patients | Mean age (years) | Treatment duration (weeks) | Median pretreatment concentration
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homocysteine (μmol/l) | Folate (nmol/l) | ||||
| Brattström16 | 53 | 65 | 6 | 14.3 | 13.0 |
| Den Heijer I17 | 52 | 56 | 8 | 17.2 | 9.7 |
| Den Heijer II17 | 178 | 53 | 8 | 11.9 | 12.7 |
| Den Heijer III17 | 92 | 61 | 8 | 13.6 | 12.1 |
| Ubbink I18 | 91 | 39 | 6 | 24.9 | 4.7 |
| Ubbink II19 | 26 | 40 | 6 | 20.6 | 4.7 |
| Naurath20 | 285 | 75 | 3 | 12.4 | 9.7 |
| Pietrzik I21 | 70 | 25 | 12 | 7.4 | 23.1 |
| Pietrzik II21 | 128 | 25 | 4 | 7.5 | 21.3 |
| Woodside22 | 112 | 40 | 8 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| Cuskelly23 | 17 | 23 | 12 | 5.6 | 6.4 |
| Saltzman24 | 10 | 58 | 4 | 14.4 | 19.9 |
| Total | 1114 | 52 | 6 | 11.8 | 11.6 |