Folic acid awareness : 2002 N.C. Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS).

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26.1 24.8
27.2
29.9
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1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Took Every Day
N. C. PRAMS FACT SHEET
February 2005
Folic Acid Awareness:
2002 N. C. Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System
( PRAMS)
→ Folic acid, a B vitamin, helps prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord when taken at least
one month before becoming pregnant and through at least the first three months of pregnancy.
→ Folic acid helps a baby’s neural tube – the part of the developing baby that becomes the brain and
spinal cord – develop properly.
→ Nearly 2,500 children are born each year in the United States with a neural tube defect. If all
women took adequate folic acid before conception and during pregnancy, the number of babies born
with a neural tube defect could drop as much as 70 percent.
→ The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) recommends that all women of
childbearing age consume 400 micrograms of folic acid every day.
→ Because the most common neural tube defects occur during the first 28 days of pregnancy ( usually
before a women even knows she is pregnant) it is recommended that all women of childbearing age
consume a multivitamin containing 400 micrograms of folic acid.
→ The national Healthy People 2010 target is to have 80 percent of non- pregnant women ages 15 to
44 years to consume at least 400 micrograms of folic acid every day from fortified foods ( found most
commonly in leafy green vegetables, orange juice, and enriched grains) or dietary supplements ( which
are more bioavailable to the body).
Percentage of women with a recent live birth who reported taking
a multivitamin containing folic acid every day ( one month before
became pregnant): N. C. PRAMS, 1997- 2002 - The percentage of women who
reported taking a multivitamin
containing folic acid every day
the month before they became
pregnant has increased more
than 5 percentage points from
24.4 percent in 1997 to nearly 30
percent in 2002.
- This is still well below the
Healthy People 2010 target of 80
percent.
– The percentage of women with a recent
live birth who reported taking a multi-vitamin
containing folic acid every day the
month before they became pregnant has
increased more than 5 percentage points
from 24.4 percent in 1997 to nearly 30
percent in 2002.
– This is still well below the Healthy
People 2010 target of 80 percent.
– Data from the 2001 NC BRFSS
( telephone survey of the general
population of adults 18+) show a higher
percentage of women ( ages 18- 44)
reporting daily consumption of a multi-vitamin
containing folic acid ( 42.2%).
This difference could be due in part to the
younger respondents in the PRAMS survey
( many of whom are under the age of 25).
Younger women are less likely to take
folic acid.