Table 1. Baseline characteristics of the participants completing the MRI protocol.

Characteristics	Placebo group (n = 83)		Active treatment groupa (n = 85)
	Mean or n	SD or %	Mean or n	SD or %
Age, years	76.2	4.5	77.0	5.2
Women, n (%)	52	62.7	50	58.8
Years of education	14.8	3.5	14.3	3.6
Body Mass Index, kg/m2 b	26.6	4.2	25.3	3.4
Systolic blood pressure, mmHg	147	19	148	25
Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg	80	11	80	11
TICS-M score	24.8	2.7	24.9	2.8
MMSE score	28.3	1.5	28.3	1.8
Initial brain volume, mL	1376	71	1387	86
Depression score (GDS) c	7.5	5.2	5.6	4.0
Ever-smoker, n (%)	43	51.8	38	44.7
No ankle vibration sense, n (%)	50	60.2	55	64.7
Hemoglobin, g/L	138	12	138	13
MCV, fL	93.0	4.3	92.3	4.4
Creatinine, µmol/L	97	17	96	18
APOE ε4 positive, n (%)	29	34.9	22	25.9
MTHFR 677C>T allele frequency (%)		34.9		34.7
TCN2 776C>G allele frequency (%)		30.1		37.1
Use of B vitamins at baseline, n (%)	17	20.5	14	16.5
Use of fish-oils, omega-3, n (%)	31	37.3	36	42.4
Diabetes any time, n (%)	10	12.05	4	4.7
Use of CVD drugs baseline, n (%)	36	43.4	42	49.4
Use of centrally acting drugs, n (%)	20	24.1	23	27.1
Use of aspirin baseline (%)	28	33.7	26	30.6
Other NSAIDs baseline	12	14.5	18	21.2
Stroke, TIA, MRI infarct at baseline	15	18.1	13	15.3
History of MI baseline	6	7.3	6	7.1
Alcohol consumption (units/week)	7.2 d	8.6	8.2	9.3

Abbreviations: APOE, gene for apolipoprotein E; CVD, cardiovascular disease; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; MCV, mean red cell volume; MI, myocardial infarct; MMSE, mini-mental state examination; MTHFR, gene for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; TIA, transient ischemic attack; TICS-M, telephone interview of cognitive status, modified. Except where indicated by superscript letters, none of the factors differed between the placebo and active treatment groups.

^aActive treatment group received daily supplements of folic acid (0.8 mg), vitamin B₁₂ (0.5 mg) and vitamin B₆ (20 mg) for 24 months.

^b P = 0.022;

^c P = 0.009;

^dExcluding one high outlier.