Pregnancy and usage of the folic acid as prevention for the neural tube defects

Abstract

Introduction: The defects of neural tube closing are serious brain and spinal column malformations. Periconceptional supplementation with folic acid, in adequate doses, has showed a reduction of these defects incidence.
Objective: to characterize pregnant women of the policlinic Milanes, municipality of Matanzas, and to describe their knowledge and usage of the folic acid before their pregnancy. Methodology: cross-sectional descriptive study applied to 165 pregnant women from the health area José Jacinto Milanes of Matanzas, who answered a questionnaire to know their pregnancy characteristics and their knowledge and preventive usage of the folic acid.
Results: the average age was 24,2 years. 58,2 % of these women did not know the benefits of the folic acid to prevent the neural tube defects, and only 18,8 % used the drug before pregnancy. More than half of the interviewed women got pregnant unexpectedly, without planning it (54,5 %). There it was a poor assistance to the pre-conception consultation(9,1 %).
Conclusions: the preconception usage of the folic acid was low and the studied population was not conscious of the benefits of the preconception intake of this drug. Taking into account the high incidence of the non-planned pregnancy, it is recommended the folic acid supplementation to all the fertile aged women.