Folic acid supplementation in early pregnancy and asthma in children aged 6 years

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess whether folic acid intake during the first trimester of pregnancy is related to asthma in the offspring by the age of 6 years. This was a prospective cohort study of 1499 women who were followed up from the first trimester of pregnancy. Their children were followed up until they were 6 years old. Fifty-one percent of the women used folic acid in the month before conception and 88% in the third month of pregnancy. The adjusted odds ratio for asthma per 100 μm increase in the average daily intake of folic acid was 0.98 (95% confidence interval, 0.93-1.04). For categories of daily folate intake, there was no evidence of associations with childhood asthma or evidence of any dose response relation for any time period (all P(trend) > .05). Our results do not support any association of folic acid supplementation in pregnancy and asthma risk in offspring by age 6 years.