FOLIC ACID;

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of our study was to assess the effectiveness offolic acid in optimizing the red blood cells folate levels and to observe the frequency of folateresistance among Pakistani female patients. Setting: Outpatient Department of Obstetrics &Gynaecology, Jinnah Post graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi. Period: January–July2016. Methodology: Participants fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included after informedconsent. Detail history and physical examination was done in each participant. All studyparticipants received 5mg (400 μg) folic acid as a daily supplement for 24 weeks. Red bloodcell folate concentrations were measured at baseline and after 24 weeks of therapy. Pairedsample t-test was used to find out significant difference between folate levels. Results: A totalof 44 women (23 pregnant while 21 non pregnant) were included in the study. Mean age of theparticipants was 27.6 ± 5.9years and mean BMI was 23.9 ± 4.1kg/m2 respectively. The meanvalues of Red blood cells folate at baseline and at 24 weeks were 623.6 ± 406.6 and 861.9 ±432.4respectively. Paired sample t-test results showed that there was no significant difference.Thirty-two (70.4%) women showed an increase in RBC folate status while 13 (29.6%) womenhad steady or decreased levels of folate after taking folic acid for 24 weekswhich may be dueto RBS enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) deficiency. Conclusion: Simplefolic acid supplementation is not very helpful in improving folate status in female Pakistanipatients. Resistant to improvement may be due to MTHFR deficiency in our study subjects.