Research paper
Folic Acid Prevents the Initial Occurrence of Sporadic Colorectal Adenoma in Chinese Older than 50 Years of Age: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Study answer
What this study found
Folic acid 1 mg/day reduced the first occurrence of sporadic colorectal adenoma over 3 years. Any colorectal adenoma occurred in 64 participants (14.88%) in the folic acid group versus 132 (30.70%) in control, RR 0.49, 95% CI 0.37-0.63, P < 0.01. Benefits were also seen for left-sided adenoma, 42 vs 78 (9.77% vs 18.14%), RR 0.54, 95% CI 0.38-0.76, P = 0.001, and advanced adenoma, 8 vs 22 (1.86% vs 5.17%), RR 0.36, 95% CI 0.16-0.81, P = 0.01. Right-sided adenoma was not statistically significant, 16 vs 29 (3.72% vs 6.74%), RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.30-1.00, P = 0.07, and colorectal cancer was…
- Study & population
- This was a multicenter randomized clinical trial in Chinese adults aged 50 to 80 years who had no colorectal adenoma on at least two prior colonoscopies and whose last colonoscopy was within 1 year before recruitment.
- Intervention
- Folic acid was given orally as 1 mg/day tablets for 3 years.
- Key limitation
- The follow-up was limited to 3 years, and the main endpoint was adenoma detection rather than colorectal cancer incidence.
View source
Open PDFOriginal abstract
Colorectal adenoma (CRA) is the precursor lesion of colorectal cancer (CRC). Several agents have been shown to be effective in the chemoprevention of CRA recurrence, but there has been little research on its primary prevention. Participants older tha…