Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34791275›Full record

ArticleThe international journal of neuropsychopharmacology2021

Folic Acid Treatment for Patients with Vascular Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Abdul Gofir, Samekto Wibowo, Muhammad Hakimi, David Dwi Putera, Irawan Satriotomo, Mustofa Mustofa

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Abdul GofirDepartment of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing (FKKMK) Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.ORCID 0000-0002-8469-3443
Samekto WibowoDepartment of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing (FKKMK) Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Muhammad HakimiDepartment of Obstetry and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing (FKKMK) Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
David Dwi PuteraGraduate of Master of Medicine in Clinical Epidemiology, School of Medicine and Public Health University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Irawan SatriotomoDepartment Neurology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida USA and Indonesia Neuroscience Institute (INI)-Satriotomo Foundation, Jakarta Indonesia.
Mustofa MustofaDepartment of Pharmacology and Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing (FK-KMK) Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Universitas Gadjah Mada · IDThe University of Sydney · AUUniversity of Indonesia · ID

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAs the life expectancy of elderly people has drastically increased, the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in this population has proportionally grown. Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) refers to all forms of cognitive disorder associated with cerebrovascular disease. Homocysteine has recently been recognized as a contributor to the pathomechanisms involved in cognitive impairment. B vitamins, such as folic acid, are known to be effective in lowering homocysteine levels. AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the efficacy of folic acid in patients with VCI.

methodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of research on folic acid treatments for VCI. Only randomized controlled trials studies that compared the efficacy of folic acid to placebo or other interventions were considered, irrespective of publication status, year of publication, and languages. Two independent reviewers searched the Medline via Ovid, EMBASE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central) journal databases up to July 2021 and independently appraised the included studies. We used mean difference outcome with 95% confidence intervals (CI) to calculate the change of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), cognitive function domain, and concentration of homocysteine.

resultsWe found three studies comparing folic acid with placebo and one study comparing folic acid with other interventions. There is only slight evidence that the MMSE score in patients who received Folic Acid increased 0.3 point higher compared to the placebo group after 24 months (95% CI:-0.12-0.37; p=0.31). There is very strong evidence that the concentration of Homocysteine in the Folic Acid group became 6.16 μmol/L lower compared to the placebo group after 6 months (95% CI:2.32-8.21 lower; p<0.001).

conclusionsOur review shows the effectiveness of folic acid in lowering plasma homocysteine concentration after 6 months period compared to placebo. However, this effect is not accompanied by improvement in cognitive function.

Indexed as

Alzheimer’s diseasedementiafolic acidhomocysteineVascular cognitive impairment

Identifiers

PMID34791275
PMCPMC8832227
OpenAlexW3213538050

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.