Abstract
Abstract Objectives: to describe the prevalence and factors associated with the consumption of folic acid and iron among puerperal women in the city of São Luís, Maranhão. Methods: a cross-sectional study with 4,036 puerperal women through a standardized questionnaire. The dependent variables (outcomes) were: the consumption of folic acid during pregnancy, iron and folic acid before pregnancy. The independent variables: age; schooling; skin color; marital status; income; planned pregnancy; place and number of prenatal consultations. Statistical analyzes were performed on STATA 14.0. For the first two outcomes, Poisson model with a robust variance was used. And for the last one, logistic regression. Results: the prevalence of consuming folic acid and iron during pregnancy were, respec-tively, 77.27% and 84.98%. However, only 0.37% reported the consume of folic acid and iron before pregnancy. In the adjusted analysis, the variables associated with the consumption of folic acid during pregnancy were: schooling and income; the consume of iron during preg-nancy, age only; and for those who consumed folic acid before pregnancy, no variable was statistically significant. Conclusions: high percentage of puerperal women who consumed folic acid and iron supplements during pregnancy, however, the recommended consumption of folic acid before pregnancy was low and maternal, social and economic factors influence the consumption of these supplements.
Highlights
Pregnancy causes physiological changes in the organism which cause an increased need of essential nutrients.[1]
The prevalence found in the folic acid (FA) supplementation during pregnancy was close to the one found in the Netherlands[15] and the USA16 and higher than the one found in researches conducted in China,[17] Spain[18] and in some Brazilian cities.[7,14,19,20]
As FA, the prevalence found in the consumption of Iron during pregnancy was higher than those reported in the literature, which were below 66%
Summary
Pregnancy causes physiological changes in the organism which cause an increased need of essential nutrients.[1]. FA is essential for the synthesis of deoxyribonucleic (DNA) and ribonucleic (RNA) acids, essential in erythropoiesis and indispensable in regulating the normal development of nerve cells, in preventing birth defects in the fetal neural tube (NTD) and megaloblastic anemia in mothers.[2,3,4] Whereas Iron supplementation prevents premature birth, maternal and child mortality, infectious diseases, inadequate growth and development, as well as intrauterine and in long term.[5,6]. There are evidences that adequate supplementation of FA7,8 in the first three months before conception and until the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, considerably reduces the risk of NTD, as well as the consumption of Iron during pregnancy prevents complications from maternal anemia.[9,10]. The prevalence of maternal anemia in developing countries remains high.[11]
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