Awareness of pregnant women about folic acid supplementation during pregnancy to reduce neural tube defects
Journal Title: International Journal of Research in Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapeutics (IJRPP) - Year 2015, Vol 4, Issue 4
Abstract
Aim The aim of the study was to measure awareness of pregnant women about folic acid supplementation during pregnancy to reduce neural tube defects. Methods A prospective observational cross sectional study was conducted for a period of six months. The study included all the women who are pregnant and who are planned to be pregnant in the study site after satisfying the inclusion criteria. Data was collected with the help of a self-prepared questionnaire and interview. Statistical analysis was performed to test the differences between variables by using Chi square analysis. The value of p<0.05 was considered as significant level. Results The present study was conducted on 200 pregnant women to assess their knowledge regarding folic acid supplementation during pregnancy. The results of our study revealed that 8.5% with high level of knowledge, 32% with intermediate level, and 38.5% with low level knowledge, and 21% with no knowledge. There was no association between the knowledge scores and the socio demographic variables like level of education, Gestational age, number of previous pregnancies. Pregnant women with a past history of previous pregnancies had poor knowledge when compared with the present first pregnant women. Conclusion Awareness of folic acid role and its requirements during pregnancy is low among interviewed women. There is a need to increase the awareness of the importance of folic acid among females of childbearing age. The different strategies are required to elevate the knowledge about folic acid among the women in reproductive age and provide them with some information about the benefits of this supplement. Further counseling programs would increase the level of awareness among this group and increase the consumption of folic acid in the correct time to prevent Neural tube defects.
Authors and Affiliations
G. Pallavi G. Pallavi
Keywords
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