Women’s awareness and periconceptional use of folic acid: data from a large European survey
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the awareness and use of folic acid in European women of child-bearing age, particularly in the setting of pregnancy and pregnancy planning. METHODS: Between November 2009 and December 2009, women aged 15-49 years old from 18 European countries completed a 30-minute structured questionnaire either online or via face-to-face interviews. To achieve nationally representative samples for each country quotas were set for age, education, income, and regional distribution. RESULTS: A total of 22,925 women participated in the survey. Of the respondents, 58% had at least one biological child, and of these 38% reported that their first pregnancy was not planned. Nearly 60% of women who planned their pregnancy indicated that they had stopped using their method of contraception without first consulting a doctor or another health care professional. Overall, 70% reported that they had heard of folic acid and 40% stated that they knew the benefits of folic acid. However, when prompted to indicate which diseases and/or birth defects folic acid can protect against, only 17% knew that folic acid can reduce the risk of neural tube defects/spina bifida. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of European women of child-bearing age in this survey were unaware that periconceptional folic acid supplementation reduces the risk of birth defects.
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Awareness of preconception health and care is low.
“Although some studies suggest that awareness of preconception health and care is low, pregnancy planning appears relatively common, indicating a missed and unexploited opportunity for intervention [56–58].”
From Associations between periconceptional lifestyle behaviours and adverse pregnancy outcomes (2021) · cites this paper as [57]
The Discussion reports low awareness of the need for periconceptional folic acid and describes missed opportunities to counsel women who planned a pregnancy. It supports the sentence’s point about a specific preconception intervention, but does not assess awareness of preconception health and care more broadly. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPregnancy planning appears relatively common.
“Although some studies suggest that awareness of preconception health and care is low, pregnancy planning appears relatively common, indicating a missed and unexploited opportunity for intervention [56–58].”
From Associations between periconceptional lifestyle behaviours and adverse pregnancy outcomes (2021) · cites this paper as [57]
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Research works printed but not linked: 25
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- Authors
- Bitzer, J., von Stenglin, & Bannemerschult
- Affiliations
- University Hospital of Basel (CH)
- Bayer (Germany) (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Bitzer, Johannes
- ORCID
- Bitzer, Johannes
- Venue
- International Journal of Women's Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2013-04
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 201
- ISSN
- 1179-1411 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3643291
- OpenAlex
- W2024346480
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 4.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Women s Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- Bayer HealthCare
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rheumatology › Folate and B Vitamins Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Pregnancy and Medication Impact
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Keywords
- folic acid supplementation, periconceptional supplementation, women's awareness, pregnancy planning, unintended pregnancy, contraceptive discontinuation, neural tube defects, spina bifida, birth defects prevention, women of child-bearing age, European women
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