Folic acid awareness and intake among women in areas with high prevalence of neural tube defects in China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: To measure folic acid awareness and intake rates among women of childbearing age in certain areas of China with a high prevalence of neural tube defects (NTD). Design: A cross-sectional survey was carried out utilising a nineteen-item questionnaire enquiring into individual women's knowledge of, attitude towards and practice of folic acid supplementation. Setting: A total of 293 low-income counties in six provinces of China. Subjects: Women aged 19-44 years from six provinces with a high prevalence of NTD recruited from June to August 2008. Results: Among 33 025 participants, 57 % had heard of folic acid but only 15 % knew all of the core information. The intake rate was 12 %; only 8 % took the recommended dose and only 4 % of non-pregnant women took folic acid. Some women did not take folic acid because they did not know that they should take it (49 %) or they had misconceptions about it (24 %). According to logistic regression analysis, rural residence was a risk factor for folic acid awareness. Ethnicity, educational level, average annual income per person and pregnancy were the influencing factors of folic acid awareness and folic acid intake. Conclusions: Although more than half of the respondents had heard of folic acid, the intake rate was still very low in areas with a high prevalence of NTD. Thus, more efforts are needed to increase folic acid awareness and intake among women of reproductive age in these areas.

The Awareness of Folic Acid Supplements among Women of Child bearing Age in King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah-Saudi Arabia

“…Nearly 77% of women in Australia had heard of folic acid and about 84% of women in the USA knew about it (17). 46.3% of women in Turki had awareness of FA (18) while in Egypt the awareness rate among pregnant women was 62.4% (7), Qatar (53.7%), United Arab Emirates (46.6%) (19), and about 60% of Lebanese women had heard about it (20). The results of the study showed that 460 (91.8%) heard about FA & 50.7% of them were planning for pregnancy, 429 (85.6%) had taken FA supplements but only 14% took it before becoming pregnant and this was similar to the studies conducted in Turkey (12.2%) (18), Qatar (20.3%) & in Lebanon (7.5%).…”

Maternal and health care determinants of preconceptional use of folic acid supplementation in France: results from the 2010 National Perinatal Survey

“…[6][7][8][9][10]14,[16][17][18][19][20] This may be explained by the lower importance attributed to prevention and limited access to medical information in less advantaged social classes. In particular, knowledge about folic acid is lower among women of lower social position and of high parity.…”

Stability of microencapsulated L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate in fortified noodles

“…The prevalence of NTD in northern China, which has the highest known rate of NTD in the world, is one example of how a FA supplementation programme has not successfully reduced the incidence of NTD Ren et al, 2006). The awareness, knowledge and use of FA supplements during early pregnancy among Chinese women living in the high NTD prevalence area was reported to be very low concomitant, with no routine access to multivitamins or FA supplements in most rural and many urban areas in China Zeng, Yuan, Wang, Ma, & Zhu, 2011;Zhu & Ling, 2008). Therefore, in addition to http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.08.129 0308-8146/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.…”