ArticleJournal of pediatric rehabilitation medicine2023
Folic acid prescription practice for high-risk prevention of spina bifida at a tertiary care hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Article in Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- The burden of neural tube defects in Southern Ethiopia: trends, hotspots, and public health implications.PeerJ · 2026Article
- Timeliness of surgical repair among infants with myelomeningocele in a tertiary care hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2025Observational
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5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
purposeMothers who have had a pregnancy affected by spina bifida are advised to take 4-5 mg/day folic acid pills to prevent recurrence. The folic acid prescription pattern was examined for high-risk mothers whose children received spina bifida surgery in an urban Ethiopian hospital.
methodsData were analyzed from a large Ethiopian urban tertiary care hospital that provided spina bifida care. General practitioners recorded 5 mg/day folic acid prescriptions administered to mothers of infants with spina bifida born between January 2019 and June 2022.
resultsAmong 500 baby-mother pairs, 340 (68%) received a 120-day prescription for 5 mg/day folic acid pills. Of these 340 mothers, 331 (97%) received their folic acid prescription at their child's first or second patient encounter. Almost all mothers (94%) had documentation of only one prescription for the study duration. The percentage of mothers receiving at least one prescription varied by the baby's year of birth (2019:75%; 2020:92%; 2021:46%; Jan 2022 -June 2022:79%).
conclusionThis prioritization of spina bifida recurrence prevention demonstrates feasibility for other healthcare centers in low-income countries. Sustained funds to provide women with free folic acid pills can favor high compliance and uptake of this prevention intervention.
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