Table 1 General characteristics of participants from the EpiFASSTT trial
Characteristic | Placebo (n=45) | Folic acid (n=41) | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N = 45 | N = 41 | ||||
Mean | SD | Mean | SD | ||
Maternal characteristics (GW14) | |||||
Age (years) | 28.9 | 3.5 | 29.4 | 3.9 | 0.513 |
BMI (kg/m2) | 25.2 | 3.9 | 24.9 | 4.6 | 0.768 |
Smoker n (%) | 8 (18) | 6 (15) | 0.693 | ||
Alcohol n (%) | 3 (7) | 1 (2) | 0.618 | ||
Parity (n) | 1 (1.1) | 1 (1.0) | 0.915 | ||
MTHFR 677TT genotype n (%) | 5 (11) | 2 (5) | 0.291 | ||
Dietary intakes | |||||
Energy (MJ/d) | 8.170 | 1.717 | 7.732 | 1.595 | 0.280 |
Dietary folate equivalents (μg/d) | 364 | 172 | 387 | 152 | 0.582 |
Vitamin B12 (μg/d) | 4.1 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 1.8 | 0.791 |
Neonatal characteristics | |||||
Gestational age (weeks) | 40.1 | 1.3 | 40.0 | 1.1 | 0.540 |
Sex, male n (%) | 22 (49) | 22 (54) | 0.659 | ||
Birth weight (g) | 3610 | 475 | 3557 | 465 | 0.601 |
Birth length (cm) | 51.5 | 2.6 | 51.1 | 2.2 | 0.499 |
Head circumference (cm) | 34.9 | 1.2 | 34.8 | 1.4 | 0.907 |
Apgar score at 5 min | 8.4 | 0.4 | 9.0 | 0.3 | 0.220 |
Caesarian n (%) | 11 (24) | 10 (24) | 0.995 | ||
B-vitamin biomarkers | |||||
Maternal pre-intervention (GW14) | |||||
Serum folate (nmol/L) | 48.8 | 19.8 | 45.8 | 19.5 | 0.469 |
RBC folate (nmol/L) | 1185 | 765 | 1181 | 649 | 0.978 |
Serum B12 (pmol/L) | 224 | 79 | 217 | 79 | 0.601 |
Maternal post-intervention (GW36) | |||||
Serum folate (nmol/L) | 23.6 | 17.9 | 46.5 | 24.8 | < 0.001* |
RBC folate (nmol/L) | 991 | 404 | 1556 | 658 | < 0.001* |
Serum B12 (pmol/L) | 168 | 51 | 157 | 60 | 0.229 |
Cord blood | |||||
Serum folate (nmol/L) | 68.3 | 24.8 | 91.7 | 36.7 | 0.004* |
RBC folate (nmol/L) | 1518 | 597 | 1877 | 701 | 0.024* |
Serum B12 (pmol/L) | 276 | 155 | 251 | 107 | 0.776 |