Folic acid cuts early birth risk

Women who take folic acid supplements for at least one year before they become pregnant can dramatically reduce their risk of delivering prematurely, according to a new study.

Approximately 38 000 pregnant women, who took folic acid for 12 months or longer before pregnancy, had a 50-percent decrease in the incidence preterm birth between 28 and 32 weeks of pregnancy - and a 70-percent reduced incidence of very early birth between 20 and 28 weeks of pregnancy.

The protective effect of folic acid supplementation for at least one year remained robust after the researchers adjusted the data for age, race, prior preterm birth and other factors that could impact a woman's risk of delivering before the normal 40 weeks gestation.

The study included only women pregnant with a single infant and excluded pregnancies in which there were medical or obstetrical complications.

Dr. Radek Bukowski, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston reported the findings at the Society for Maternal-Foetal Medicine's annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.

The US Public Health service currently recommends that all women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily to prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord, such as spina bifida and neural tube defects, should they become pregnant.

The new study provides women with yet another reason to take folic acid daily, Janis Biermann, senior vice president of education and health promotion of the March of Dimes Foundation, noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.

"Take folic acid everyday, whether you are pregnant or not," she said. "If all women took folic acid before they get pregnant and during early pregnancy it could help to reduce neural tube defects by up to 70 percent and it may help reduce the rates of preterm birth as well."



Source : Babynet