MRC Vitamin Study (1991)
A large international trial that tested whether folic acid, taken around the time of conception, prevents neural tube defects in women who had already had an affected pregnancy. Women were given at random folic acid, a mixture of seven other vitamins, both, or neither. Fewer pregnancies were affected in the folic acid groups.
Also called MRC Vitamin Study Research Group trial
- Study
- In this atlas
Overview
- Design
- Randomised, double-blind prevention trial with a factorial design: folic acid, a mixture of seven other vitamins (A, D, B1, B2, B6, C and nicotinamide), both, or neither.
- Phase
- Not reported
- Enrolled
- 1,817 women at high risk of a neural tube defect pregnancy
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Funder
- Not recorded
- Registry
- Not reported
- Started
- Not reported
- Primary completion
- Not reported
- Completion
- Not reported
- Countries
- Not reported
- Care setting
- 33 centres in seven countries; the abstract does not name them or describe the settings.
- Registry status
- Not reported
Technical summary
Randomised, double-blind prevention trial with a factorial design at 33 centres in seven countries, reported in 1991. 1817 women at high risk because of a previous affected pregnancy were allocated at random; 1195 had a completed pregnancy in which the fetus or infant was known to have or not have a neural tube defect. 27 of these had a defect, 6 in the folic acid groups and 21 in the two other groups (relative risk 0.28, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.71). The other vitamins showed no significant protective effect (relative risk 0.80, 95% CI 0.32 to 1.72). The PubMed abstract gives no folic acid dose, no registry number and no per-group denominators, so none are recorded. Only the abstract was read.
Arms
-
Folic acid
Intervention Folic acid supplementation before and in early pregnancy
Folic acid alone. The abstract does not give the dose.
-
Other vitamins
Intervention
A mixture of seven other vitamins (A, D, B1, B2, B6, C and nicotinamide).
-
Folic acid and other vitamins
Intervention Folic acid supplementation before and in early pregnancy
Folic acid together with the mixture of seven other vitamins.
-
Neither
Intervention
Neither folic acid nor the other vitamins.
Findings
No findings are published for this study.
Record details
- Record id
maternal:mrc-vitamin-study- Content hash
f18815a72a4e19fd02fe5df90693f4079ab8173bfbbaa5cb0fce42ca7e7268ed