Folic acid supplementation and malaria susceptibility and severity among people taking antifolate antimalarial drugs in endemic areas
Malaria prevention: None of the included trials reported primary outcomes. Malaria treatment: People who received folic acid supplementation (alone or with iron) and antifolate antimalarial treatment were less likely to clear malaria parasitaemia (day 3), and had increased treatment failure (days 7, 14, 28). Most of the included trials provided folic acid with doses above the tolerable UL (> 1.0 mg). One trial included folic acid at a dose of 400 μg/d (recommended dose for preventing neural tube defects) and showed little to no difference in parasite clearance or treatment failure.
Authors
- Yan Ping Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1764-6863)
- J L Finkelstein
- T. Cara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7300-0672)
- Kelicia Daniels (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0292-4496)
- Amy Fothergill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7976-1096)
- Saurabh Mehta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3788-0665)
- Lorraine F. Yeung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1553-5935)
- John M. Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5578-4787)
- Elizabeth Centeno-Tablante
- Julie Gutman
- Krista S Crider
Institutions
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (US)
- Center for Global Health (US)
- Eagle Mount (US)
- Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
- Published
- 2026-02-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd014217.pub2
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Malaria Research and Control
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 41.85