Prevention of neural tube defects: effect of an intervention aimed at implementing the official recommendations.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVES:
The periconceptional intake of 0.4 mg folic acid is recommended in many countries to prevent neural tube defects. This paper describes the poor implementation of corresponding guidelines in Germany, the effectiveness of an intervention-based on providing adequate information and the problems associated with the implementation.

METHODS:
Two cross sectional studies investigated knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of randomly sampled gynaecologists (n = 24/27), pharmacists (n = 21/21), and women in childbed (n = 131/118) before and after the information campaign.

RESULTS:
Before the intervention, 3.8% of the women implemented folic-acid-prophylaxis compared with 9.3% afterwards (p = n.s.). The awareness of the prophylaxis before pregnancy correlated with socio-economic status and rose from 28% (before) to 42% after intervention (p < 0.05). Before the intervention, 38% of the gynaecologists and 38% of the pharmacists recommended the prophylaxis compared with 74% (p < 0.05) and 43% (p = n.s.) afterwards.

CONCLUSIONS:
The effect of the intervention was small. To improve the situation, fortification of specially selected and labelled food should be considered. An accompanying nationwide information campaign should focus on women with lower socio-economic status.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Egen, Veronika (V); Hasford, Joerg (J);

Affiliation: Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), University of Munich. egen(-atsign-)ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Sozial- und Präventivmedizin (Soz Praventivmed), published in Switzerland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-; vol 48 (issue 1) : pp 24-32

Dates: Created 2003/05/21; Completed 2003/08/28; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12756886, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Female
Folic Acid - administration & dosage
Germany
Guideline Adherence - statistics & numerical data
Gynecology - statistics & numerical data
Health Education - statistics & numerical data
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice

Health Plan Implementation - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Neural Tube Defects - prevention & control
Pharmacists - statistics & numerical data
Preconception Care - statistics & numerical data
Pregnancy

Associated Chemicals: Folic Acid (59-30-3)

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.