News Release

Women failing to take vitamin that helps prevent serious birth defects, survey finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

March of Dimes Foundation

"Call to Action" for Physicians, March of Dimes Says

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., JUNE 6, 2000 -- Despite years of public health campaigns advising that taking the B vitamin folic acid helps prevent serious birth defects of the brain and spine, most women of childbearing age are still not taking the vitamin in time, according to a survey released today by the March of Dimes.

Only 32 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 45 who were not pregnant at the time of the survey took a daily multivitamin containing folic acid. This figure has increased only slightly since 1995, the first year the March of Dimes surveyed women. This despite the fact that 75 percent of women say they are aware of folic acid, up from 52 percent in 1995.

"We are greatly disturbed by this lag between awareness and behavior," said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes. "We are communicating to women this urgent message about consuming folic acid, but we see that there's a lot of work left to do. There are parallels here with the anti-smoking campaigns that took almost 30 years to achieve a major decrease in smoking rates."

She noted that 9 out of 10 women do not know that folic acid must be consumed before pregnancy to be effective, and that only 1 in 7 know that folic acid prevents birth defects. "We think this shows that very few women truly understand the importance of folic acid," Dr. Howse said.

Half of the women aware of folic acid say they learned about it from a magazine or newspaper article or a radio or television broadcast. One in 5 women (20 percent) say their physician or other health care provider told them about the vitamin.

"Physicians and other health care providers should use every contact with women of childbearing age as an opportunity to teach them about the benefits of daily folic acid," Dr. Howse said. "This survey should be a call to action for every doctor, nurse, and midwife."

The March of Dimes is in the second year of a $10 million, multi-year national folic acid education campaign aimed at reducing the incidence of neural tube defects by at least 30 percent by the year 2001.

Among the current elements of the campaign, which recognizes the importance of the mass media in reaching women of childbearing age, are new print and broadcast public service advertisements (PSAs). The print PSA, launched in May, features actress Salma Hayek in the first of a projected series with celebrities. The broadcast PSAs, which begin this month, include television and radio spots alerting women that "sometimes a pregnancy can surprise you."

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are among the most serious and common birth defects in the United States. Each year, an estimated 2,500 babies are born with these defects, and many additional affected pregnancies result in miscarriage or stillbirth. The most common NTD is spina bifida, a leading cause of childhood paralysis.

To help prevent NTDs, all women capable of having a baby should consume a multivitamin containing 400 micrograms of folic acid every day beginning before pregnancy, as part of a healthy diet containing foods naturally high in folic acid, such as leafy green vegetables, orange juice, and beans, and enriched grain products fortified with the vitamin.

Today's survey follows up three previous March of Dimes polls of women's knowledge and behavior on issues related to healthy pregnancy. It was conducted for the March of Dimes by The Gallup Organization under a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The March of Dimes survey results are based on telephone interviews with a national sample of 2,013 women age 18 to 45 conducted from January 13 to February 17, 2000. For results based on samples of this size, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects could be plus or minus three percentage points.

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Copies of the March of Dimes survey results, "Folic Acid and the Prevention of Birth Defects," item #31-1404-00, can be obtained by calling toll-free 1-800-367-6630. The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies. More information is available on the March of Dimes Website at http://www.modimes.org.


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