Are Women with Recent Live Births Aware of the Benefits of Folic Acid?
Each year, approximately 4,000 pregnancies result in spina bifida or anencephaly, serious and often fatal conditions for the newborn. The B vitamin folic acid can reduce the incidence of these conditions by 50%–70%. To examine folic acid awareness among women who had recently delivered a live-born infant, CDC analyzed Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data for 1995–1998. The question used to measure awareness was, “Have you ever heard or read that taking the vitamin folic acid can help prevent some birth defects?” During the study period, overall folic acid awareness increased 15%, from 64% in 1996 to 73% in 1998, although changes varied by state. Despite this increase, differences in folic acid awareness were observed among different groups of women. Contact: Katherine Lyon Daniel, Ph.D. CDC, National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (770) 4887182 Successful Implementation of Perinatal HIV Prevention Guidelines: A Multistate Surveillance Eval
