Folic acid supplementation before pregnancy remains inadequate

BMJ 1999;319:1499 ( 4 December )

Letters

Folic acid supplementation before pregnancy remains inadequate

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Women who take folic acid when trying to conceive have been shown to have a lower risk of a pregnancy affected by neuraltube defects.¹ The UK Department of Health has recommendedthat folic acid is taken by all women planning a pregnancy.²

The request card used in antenatal screening for Down's syndrome and open neural tube defects provides a simple and usefulopportunity to determine the proportion of women who take folicacid supplements before pregnancy. In March 1997 St Bartholomew'sHospital Medical College introduced a revised request card forwomen requesting screening on an individual and fee paying basis(private screening). The following question was added: "Did youtake a daily supplement containing folic acid before becomingpregnant (if so enter 1), or as soon as you knew you were pregnant(if so, enter 2). If neither enter0."

In November 1997 the same question was added to . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

Folic acid and the prevention of neural tube defects: Jonathan Reggler
BMJ 1995 311: 256. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Persad, V. L., Van den Hof, M. C., Dube, J. M., Zimmer, P. (2002). Incidence of open neural tube defects in Nova Scotia after folic acid fortification. CMAJ 167: 241-245 [Abstract] [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Think conception at the time of contraception!: James Andrew McSherry
bmj.com, 9 Dec 1999 [Full text]
Dr.: Fabio Parazzini
bmj.com, 29 Jan 2000 [Full text]