Prevention of Folic Acid‐Preventable Spina Bifida and Anencephaly

Gp, Oakley; Jd, Erickson; Lm, James; Mulinare, Joe; Jf, Cordero

doi:10.1002/9780470514559.ch13

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…NTDs are serious birth defects that occur during early pregnancy and affect the spine (e.g., spina bifida) and the brain (e.g., anencephaly). A large number of studies have found that 50–70% of these defects can be prevented by women consuming sufficient FA daily before conception and throughout the first trimester of pregnancy [13, 27, 28]. In our study, 41% of women didn’t take folic acid supplementation, among those who took folic acid, the compliance≥80% was 81%, which indicated half of mothers in our study achieved sufficient FA daily intake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 45%

Periconceptional folic acid supplementation and sex difference in prevention of neural tube defects and their subtypes in China: results from a large prospective cohort study

Liu

et al. 2018

Nutr J

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BackgroundFolic acid (FA) supplementation is known to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs). We examined whether this preventive effect differs by the sex of the infant.MethodsData were gathered from a large population-based cohort study in China that evaluated the effects of FA supplementation on NTDs. All births at 20 complete gestational weeks, including live births, stillbirths, and pregnancy terminations, and all NTDs, regardless of gestational age, were recorded. In a northern China province, a total of 30,801 singleton live births to women whose use of FA supplements during the first trimester was known at the time were included in the study. The birth prevalence of NTDs was classified by sex, subtype, and maternal FA supplementation. Male to female rate ratios [RR] and their 95% confidence intervals [CI] were calculated.ResultsA total of 106 NTDs cases were recorded. The overall prevalence of NTDs was 2.5‰ among males and 4.4‰ among females; NTDs were less prevalent among males than among females (RR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.54–0.63). There was a higher prevalence of anencephaly (RR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.27–0.43) and spina bifida (RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.63–0.84) among females. However, FA supplementation led to significantly greater decreases in the rates of anencephaly (4.8‰) and total NTDs (7.6‰) in females than in males (1.6‰ and 2.8‰, respectively).ConclusionsFA supplementation successfully reduces the prevalence of NTDs in both male and female infants, although we found a significantly greater decrease in anencephaly and total NTDs in females than in males. How the protective effects of FA supplementation affect the sexes differently needs to be studied further.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 45%

Periconceptional folic acid supplementation and sex difference in prevention of neural tube defects and their subtypes in China: results from a large prospective cohort study

Liu

et al. 2018

Nutr J

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“…Data for North America is limited to 2 studies in Canada and 1 in North Mexico that suggest a 50% decrease in neural tube defects following introduction of folic acid into the food supply (Gucciardi et al, 2002;Martinez de Villarreal et al, 2002). Ensuring that women take oral folate supplements prior to 28 days gestation has been a problem, prompting calls for increased dietary fortification beyond that implemented in the late 1990s (Oakley, 2002).…”

Section: Prevalencementioning

confidence: 97%

Pediatric perspective on prenatal counseling for myelomeningocele

Doherty¹,

Shurtleff²

2006

Birth Defects Research

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“…This purpose was not always speci fi ed in the literature. To ensure consistency in data interpretation, countries that had recommended policies based on forti fi cation levels up to and including 70 m g folic acid/100 g fl our were not included in the results as this is the restoration level of cereal grain products, as speci fi ed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [ 17 ] . For example, Nigeria is currently considering a revision to their fl our forti fi cation premix, to include folic acid at 006.0 mg/kg [ 16 ] .…”

Section: Data Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%