Research paper
Supplementation with antioxidants and folinic acid for children with Down’s syndrome: randomised controlled trial
Study answer
What this study found
Daily antioxidant and/or folinic acid supplementation did not improve psychomotor development or language in young children with Down’s syndrome. In the antioxidants comparison, Griffiths Total GQ was 58.1 (9.5) versus 56.9 (10.8), difference 1.2 (-2.2 to 4.6), and hearing and language was 56.5 (10.3) versus 56.8 (14.3), difference -0.3 (-4.5 to 3.9). Biochemical markers were also essentially unchanged, including SOD-1 4.0 (1.1) versus 3.8 (1.1), GSH-Px 66.3 (34.8) versus 65.3 (37.7), and urinary isoprostanes 2264 (2202) versus 2306 (2399), ratio 1.10 (0.61 to 2.00). Antioxidant treatment…
- Study & population
- Randomized controlled trial in infants with Down’s syndrome recruited from Greater London, the West Midlands, Nottingham, and south west England between May 2002 and February 2004.
- Intervention
- Infants were randomized to daily oral antioxidant supplements, folinic acid, or the combination.
- Key limitation
- The active arms were modest in size, which limits power to detect small or subgroup-specific effects.
View source
Open PDFOriginal abstract
Objectives To assess whether supplementation with antioxidants, folinic acid, or both improves the psychomotor and language development of children with Down’s syndrome. Design Randomised controlled trial with two by two factorial design. Setting Chi…