title: [Folate and iron in fertile age women from a Venezuelan community affected by incidence of neural tube defects].
abstract: The objective of this transversal study was to determine folate and iron nutritional status of women in fertile age from Municipio Jiménez, Lara State, Venezuela. The sampling was probabilistic by conglomerates from the urban and rural areas, selecting 15 conglomerates from which women between 12 and 45 years (269), were studied. After signing informed consent, participating were interviewed for personal data, antecedents related to folate and iron, socioeconomic data (Graffar-Mendez Castellano method and unsatisfied basic needs). In blood sample was determined Hemoglobin, and Erythrocytic Folate (FE). Serum was obtained to determine Ferritin and Serum Folate (FS). 53.53% of the sample presented low FS levels, 10.78% were FS deficient. Severe FE deficiency was present in 80.7% of the cases, moderate deficiency affected 5.9%. For both tests, median was higher for women in treatment with Acido Fólico or pregnant (p = 0.000), median for FE was higher for adults (p = 0.001) and in non poor women (p = 0.011). There were no significant differences for coffee, alcohol, anticonceptive consumption, urban or rural resident or socioeconomic strata. The prevalence of anemia was 11.2% being significantly more frequent in adults than in adolescents (p = 0.029) and in urban women (p = 0.042). Low ferritin were found in 37.3% of the sample, the effect of different variables was not statistically significant. In conclusion, there is a high prevalence of iron and folate deficiencies in women of fertile age from Municipio Jiménez, which could constitute a conditioning factor for the appearance of neural tube defects.
authors.affiliation: Decanato de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado UCLA, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Montilva
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mariela
authors.forename: Papale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jham
authors.forename: García-Casal María
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Nieves
authors.forename: Berné
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yelitza
authors.forename: Ontiveros
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yudith
authors.forename: Durán
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lourdes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005494:Folic Acid Deficiency / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014687:Venezuela / Q000453:epidemiology