ArticleBirth defects research2022
Periconceptional folic acid use prevents both rare and common neural tube defects in China.
Article in Birth defects research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dolutegravir- Versus Efavirenz-Based Treatment in Pregnancy: Impact on Red Blood Cell Folate Concentrations in Pregnant Women and Their Infants.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Trial
- Shifting Burden of Neural Tube Defects from Early-Life Mortality to an Aging Population Living with Disability - China, 1990-2023.China CDC weekly · 2026Article
- Prediabetes, diabetes, and folate status among United States women of reproductive age: NHANES 2011-March 2020.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Article
- Initiation and duration of folic acid supplementation in preventing congenital malformations.BMC medicine · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNeural tube defects (NTDs) encompass a variety of distinct types. We assessed if the preventive effect of folic acid (FA) varied by NTD type and infant sex.
methodsWe examined all pregnancies with NTD status confirmation from a pregnancy-monitoring system in selected locations in northern and southern regions of China between 1993 and 1996. Women who took 400 μg of FA daily during 42 days after last menstrual period were considered FA users. We analyzed NTD prevalence by FA use status, NTD type, geographic region, and infant sex.
resultsAmong 626,042 pregnancies, 700 were affected by an NTD. Among FA nonusers, 65 pregnancies (8.8 per 10,000) in the north and 51 pregnancies (1.2 per 10,000) in the south were affected by one of the two rare NTDs, that is, craniorachischisis, iniencephaly. FA use prevented occurrence of these two rare NTDs and reduced the prevalence of spina bifida (SB) by 78% (from 17.9 to 3.9 per 10,000) in the north and 51% (from 2.4 to 1.2 per 10,000) in the south. Among FA users, SB prevalence, including SB with high lesion level, was significantly reduced in both geographic regions. FA use reduced prevalence of anencephaly and encephalocele by 85% and 50%, respectively in the north, while it did not reduce the prevalence of these two NTDs in the south. There was a greater reduction in NTD prevalence in female than in male infants and fetuses.
conclusionsThis is the first study to show that FA prevents the entire spectrum of NTD types.
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Registered trials
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