Folic acid supplementation and social deprivation.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the use of folic acid supplementation in relation to small-area measures of social deprivation.


METHODS
Cohort study.


METHODS
Antenatal clinic, Women's Outpatients Services, Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, UK.


METHODS
Four hundred and fifty women attending their 18-week antenatal clinic appointment. No selection criteria were applied. Townsend scores were allocated using postcodes to provide a small-area measure (enumeration district) of social deprivation.


RESULTS
Eighty-nine per cent of women took folic acid prior to their 18-week antenatal clinic appointment; 48% of women took folic acid before 4 weeks of gestation. Younger women and more socially deprived women were less likely to use folic acid supplements before 4 weeks of gestation. Women with a family history of neural tube defects were no more likely to take folic acid than were women with no family history of neural tube defects.


CONCLUSIONS
A high proportion of women reported taking folic acid supplements during pregnancy but less than half took them at the most important time in early pregnancy. Younger women and women who were more socio-economically deprived were much less likely to take folic acid during the critical periconceptional period. Future strategies should promote prenatal folic acid supplementation in women under the age of 24 and in women of low socio-economic status. Further attention should also be given to the use of folic acid supplements in women with a family history of neural tube defects.
Relton
Caroline L
CL
Paediatric and Lifecourse Epidemiology Research Group, School of Clinical Medical Sciences (Child Health), Newcastle University, Sir James Spence Institute, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 4LP, UK. c.l.relton@ncl.ac.uk
Hammal
Donna M
DM
Rankin
Judith
J
Parker
Louise
L
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000517:prevention & control; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D005492:Folic Acid