[Efficacy and safety of two vitamin supplement regimens on homocysteine levels in hemodialysis patients. Prospective, randomized clinical trial].

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Folic Acid, published as a randomized controlled trial.

High levels of homocysteine (tHcy) are frecuent in MHD patients, and recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular events.

Who Took Part

The study group was 60 patients.

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

These regimens were continued throughout the study period.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized and double-blind.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Folic Acid and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Folic Acid, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Hcys levels were compared with a control group from the general population (N = 276) matched for age and gender.

What Was Measured

High levels of homocysteine (tHcy) are frecuent in MHD patients, and recognized as a risk factor for cardiovascular events.

The subject headings attached to it are Cohort Studies, Diabetic Nephropathies, Dietary Supplements, Folic Acid, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype and Homocysteine.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Folic Acid in 60 patients.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 14 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2005 (Nefrologia : publicacion oficial de la Sociedad Espanola Nefrologia), a journal based in Spain.

More context: all human trials.