Assessment of the Dose –Response Relationship Between Folate Exposure and Cognitive Impairment: Synthesizing Data from Documented Studies

This study aimed to estimate a quantitative dose–response relations hip between folate exposure and the risk of cognitive impairment among older adults with vitamin B12 deficiency using “probabilistic meta‐analysis,” a novel approach for synthesizing data from observational studies. Second‐order multistage regression was identified as the best‐fit model fo r the association between the probability of cognitive impairment and serum folate levels based on data generated by randomly sampling probabilistic distributions with parameters estimated based on summarized information reported in relevant publications. The findings indicate a “J‐shape” effe ct of serum folate levels on the occurrence of cognitive impairment. In particular, an excessive level of folate exposure is predicted to be associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment, albeit with greater uncertainty than the association between low folate exposure and cognitive impairmen t. This study directly contributes to the development of a practical solution to synthesize observational evidence for dose–response assessment purposes, which will help strengthen future nutritional risk assessments for the purpose of informing decisions on nutrient fortification in food.
Source: Risk Analysis - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Original Research Article Source Type: research