SynthesisMedical oncology (Northwood, London, England)2010
Folic acid supplementation for the prevention of recurrence of colorectal adenomas: metaanalysis of interventional trials.
Synthesis in Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England), 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Folate and global health umbrella review series, part 2: syntheses on cancers.Journal of global health · 2026Pooled it
- Chemoprevention of Gastrointestinal Cancers: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials and Cohort Studies.Clinical and translational science · 2025Pooled it
- Association Between Folate and Health Outcomes: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses.Frontiers in public health · 2020Pooled it
- Colorectal polyp risk is linked to an elevated level of homocysteine.Bioscience reports · 2018Pooled it
- Effect of combined folic acid, vitamin B(6), and vitamin B(12) on colorectal adenoma.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2012Trial
- The relationship between folic acid and colorectal cancer; a literature review.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2022Review
- Circulating folate levels and colorectal adenoma: a case-control study and a meta-analysis.Nutrition research and practice · 2017Article
- People with low serum folate levels have higher risk of colorectal adenoma/advanced colorectal adenoma occurrence and recurrence in China.The Journal of international medical research · 2016Article
- Consensus on the Prevention, Screening, Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Colorectal Tumors in China: Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, October 14-15, 2011, Shanghai, China.Gastrointestinal tumors · 2014Article
- Serine, glycine and one-carbon units: cancer metabolism in full circle.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2013Review
- Folic acid and colorectal cancer: unwarranted fears.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Conflicting data have emerged from preclinical and clinical studies that examined the relationship between folic acid and the risk of recurrence of colorectal adenomas. To determine precisely that relation, we planned this metaanalysis. We searched literature to identify interventional randomized, placebo-controlled studies where folic acid in specific dose and for specific duration was administered to evaluate its effect on the recurrence of adenomatous colorectal polyps. Five eligible trials were identified. The total number of patients with history of colorectal adenomas in the folate and the placebo groups was 805 and 775 patients, respectively. Our analysis showed that folate supplementation had no protective effects on the recurrence of colorectal adenomas [odds ratio = 1.08 (95% CI; 0.87, 1.33; P = 0.49)], nor has a positive outcome on the number of recurrent polyps per patient (P = 0.41). Examination of folic acid dose effect showed that the two studies that have used folic acid as 1 mg/day favored folic acid over placebo with an odds ratio of 0.62 (95% CI; 0.48, 0.80). However, the overall effect for all included studies was not significant [odds ratio = 0.78 (95% CI; 0.49, 1.24; P = 0.30)]. We found significant heterogeneity between trials, moreover, included trials exhibit inconsistency in methodological quality. The present metaanalysis has failed to show potential benefit for folate supplementation. Future trials should examine the effect of different dosage and duration. Moreover, the confounding effect of dietary and life style habits should be carefully controlled.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.