ArticleNutrition journal2018
Periconceptional folic acid supplementation and sex difference in prevention of neural tube defects and their subtypes in China: results from a large prospective cohort study.
Article in Nutrition journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Birth prevalence and determinants of neural tube defects among newborns in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Epidemiological insights into neural tube and orofacial malformations in Chile using data from the National Registry of Congenital Anomalies (RENACH).BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Biological, dietetic and pharmacological properties of vitamin BNPJ science of food · 2025Review
- Meningomyelocele Perioperative Management in Neonatal: Case Series.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Advances in DNA methylation of imprinted genes and folic acid regulation of growth and development.Epigenomics · 2024Review
- Advances in Folic Acid Biosensors and Their Significance in Maternal, Perinatal, and Paediatric Preventive Medicine.Biosensors · 2023Review
- Periconceptional intakes of methyl donors and other micronutrients involved in one-carbon metabolism may further reduce the risk of neural tube defects in offspring: a United States population-based case-control study of women meeting the folic acid recommendations.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Article
- The association between serum folate and gestational diabetes mellitus: a large retrospective cohort study in Chinese population.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- Cohort profile: Anhui Maternal-Child Health Study in China.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Periconceptional folic acid use prevents both rare and common neural tube defects in China.Birth defects research · 2022Article
- Association of homocysteine and polymorphism of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase with early-onset post stroke depression.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Maternal folic acid and multivitamin supplementation: International clinical evidence with considerations for the prevention of folate-sensitive birth defects.Preventive medicine reports · 2021Review
- Genetic Polymorphisms in DNA Repair Gene APE1/Ref-1 and the Risk of Neural Tube Defects in a High-Risk Area of China.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2021Article
- Knowledge and intake of folic acid to prevent neural tube defects among pregnant women in urban China: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Article
- Anemia and Vitamin B-12 and Folate Status in Women of Reproductive Age in Southern India: Estimating Population-Based Risk of Neural Tube Defects.Current developments in nutrition · 2021Article
- Evaluating an intervention for neural tube defects in coal mining cites in China: a temporal and spatial analysis.International health · 2021Article
- Prospects for improving future mental health of children through prenatal maternal micronutrient supplementation in China.Pediatric investigation · 2020Review
- Periconceptional folic acid usage and its associated factors in eastern Sudan: A cross-sectional study.Women's health (London, England)Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFolic acid (FA) supplementation is known to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs). We examined whether this preventive effect differs by the sex of the infant.
methodsData were gathered from a large population-based cohort study in China that evaluated the effects of FA supplementation on NTDs. All births at 20 complete gestational weeks, including live births, stillbirths, and pregnancy terminations, and all NTDs, regardless of gestational age, were recorded. In a northern China province, a total of 30,801 singleton live births to women whose use of FA supplements during the first trimester was known at the time were included in the study. The birth prevalence of NTDs was classified by sex, subtype, and maternal FA supplementation. Male to female rate ratios [RR] and their 95% confidence intervals [CI] were calculated.
resultsA total of 106 NTDs cases were recorded. The overall prevalence of NTDs was 2.5‰ among males and 4.4‰ among females; NTDs were less prevalent among males than among females (RR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.54-0.63). There was a higher prevalence of anencephaly (RR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.27-0.43) and spina bifida (RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.63-0.84) among females. However, FA supplementation led to significantly greater decreases in the rates of anencephaly (4.8‰) and total NTDs (7.6‰) in females than in males (1.6‰ and 2.8‰, respectively).
conclusionsFA supplementation successfully reduces the prevalence of NTDs in both male and female infants, although we found a significantly greater decrease in anencephaly and total NTDs in females than in males. How the protective effects of FA supplementation affect the sexes differently needs to be studied further.
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