Recently, a "Meta-analysis of the Efficacy of Folic Acid Supplementation in Preventing Stroke," conducted by Chinese and American scientists, has received high praise from the international authoritative organization "Faculty of 1000 Medicine" for its scientific literature contribution power. It has been recommended as a must-read article, ranking first among stroke research papers in the past six months. This is the highest evaluation received by a cardiovascular research project involving Chinese scientists from this institution to date.
"Faculty of 1000 Medicine" is composed of an advisory board of approximately 2,500 top medical experts from around the world. Each day, it selects a small number of outstanding papers that could potentially change medical practice from the past month and recommends them to the medical community based on the scientific literature contribution power (F1000 factor) standard, categorizing them into three levels: 9 points (Outstanding), 6 points (Must-read), and 3 points (Recommended). The aforementioned study, published in the authoritative medical journal *The Lancet*, received a 6 (Must-read) rating for its scientific literature contribution power.
This study confirmed that folic acid supplementation can reduce the risk of stroke by an average of 18%, with a 25% reduction in risk for primary prevention, and a 29% decrease in risk for those taking folic acid for more than 3 years. Experts believe that this research addresses major medical and public health issues and will have a profound impact on future medical and public health practices.
Domestic experts believe that factors such as the lack of folic acid fortification in food in China, the public's habit of not consciously supplementing folic acid from their diet, low serum folate levels, and high plasma homocysteine levels, in conjunction with essential hypertension, may be important reasons for the persistently high incidence and mortality of stroke in China.
Currently, the research team is accelerating follow-up studies, aiming to develop prevention and treatment measures suitable for the Chinese population as soon as possible.