Awareness and Use of Folic Acid among Women of Childbearing Age.

Giselle Medawar,Tarek Wehbe,Elizabeth Abou Jaoude

doi:10.5334/aogh.2396

Giselle Medawar, Tarek Wehbe + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.2396

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Abstract

Folic acid (FA) given before and during pregnancy reduces the risk of several birth defects, including neurologic, cardiac, urinary and other congenital anomalies in the newborn. Several studies around the world showed less than satisfactory awareness and intake of this important vitamin. We undertook the task of exploring this question among Lebanese women of childbearing age.Between June and November 2014, we conducted this cross-sectional study on women aged 20 to 40 years. The subjects, who agreed to participate, completed a questionnaire, which included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and knowledge about FA roles during pregnancy, as well as their babies’ health.Seventy-six percent reported having knowledge about FA during pregnancy, but only a small proportion knew the benefits for taking it. Also, 93.9% of women took FA supplements during pregnancy, however only 33.6% of the participants took FA before becoming aware of their pregnancy.Public health interventions to improve awareness of FA’s roles before and during pregnancy are crucial to curtail birth defects. It is our opinion that it is a very fruitful preventive medicine tool in which every community should invest.

Highlights

Folic acid (FA), known as vitamin B9, is an essential element for the formation of new blood cells, amino acids and DNA synthesis
Of the participants who took FA before pregnancy, 55.3% took FA without any other supplement, the rest took it with other vitamins and only 85.7% took it on a daily basis
This study shows that a preconception visit was associated with an increase in FA supplementation, but this remains suboptimal

Summary

Introduction

FA, known as vitamin B9, is an essential element for the formation of new blood cells, amino acids and DNA synthesis. The need for FA increases dramatically during pregnancy as new cells and DNA are forming. FA, or pteroyl-glutamic acid, consists of glutamate residues attached to a carboxyl terminus [1,2]. In 1992, the US Public Health Service Task Force recommended that all women who are able to become pregnant should take at least 400 micrograms (0.4 mg) of FA daily before conception and should continue this supplementation throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. For women who have had a previous pregnancy with neural tube defects (NTDs), FA supplementation of 4 mg daily should be taken during the same period [3,4,5,6]

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