Folate and Vitamin B12 Status in Women of Reproductive Age in Rural Haryana, India: Estimating Population-Based Prevalence for Neural Tube Defects

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Birth Defects Res
• Personal Author:
  Das, Reena ; Duggal, Mona ; Rosenthal, Jorge ; Kankaria, Ankita ; Senee, Hari K. ; Jabbar, Shameem ; Kaur, Manmeet ; Kumar, Vishal ; Bhardwaj, Swati ; Singh, Neha ; Dhanjal, Gursharan S. ; Kumar, Akash ; Rose, Charles E. ; Bhatia, Rita ; Gupta, Rachita ; Dalpath, Suresh ; Crider, Krista S. ; Zhang, Mindy ; Pfeiffer, Christine M. ; Gupta, Rakesh ; Mehta, Rajesh ; Raina, Neena ; Yeung, Lorraine F.
• Description:
  Background:
  
  Folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies in pregnant women are associated with increased risk for adverse maternal and infant health outcomes, including neural tube defects (NTDs).
  
  Methods:
  
  A population-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in two rural areas in Ambala District, Haryana, India in 2017 to assess baseline folate and vitamin B12 status among women of reproductive age (WRA) and predict the prevalence of NTDs. We calculated the prevalence of folate and vitamin B12 deficiency and insufficiency by demographic characteristics among 775 non-pregnant, non-lactating WRA (18–49 years). Using red blood cell (RBC) folate distributions and an established Bayesian model, we predicted NTD prevalence. All analyses were conducted using SAS-callable SUDAAN Version 11.0.4 to account for complex survey design.
  
  Results:
  
  Among WRA, 10.1% (95% CI: 7.9, 12.7) and 9.3% (95% CI: 7.4, 11.6) had serum (<7 nmol/L) and RBC folate (<305 nmol/L) deficiency, respectively. The prevalence of RBC folate insufficiency (<748 nmol/L) was 78.3% (95% CI: 75.0, 81.3) and the predicted NTD prevalence was 21.0 (95% uncertainly interval: 16.9, 25.9) per 10,000 live births. Prevalences of vitamin B12 deficiency (<200 pg/mL) and marginal deficiency (≥200 pg/mL and ≤300 pg/mL) were 57.7% (95% CI: 53.9, 61.4) and 23.5% (95% CI: 20.4, 26.9), respectively.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  The magnitude of folate insufficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency in this Northern Indian population is a substantial public health concern. The findings from the survey help establish the baseline against which results from future post-fortification surveys can be compared.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Bayes Theorem Cross-Sectional Studies Female Folic Acid Folic Acid Deficiency Humans India Middle Aged Neural Tube Defects Pregnancy Prevalence Rural Population Vitamin B 12 Vitamin B 12 Deficiency Young Adult

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• Keywords:
  Neural Tube Defects Red Blood Cell Folate Serum Folate Serum Vitamin B12 Women Of Reproductive Age
• Source:
  Birth Defects Res. 116(8):e2390
• Pubmed ID:
  39162364
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11373839
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/
• Volume:
  116
• Issue:
  8
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ca7d7824d319bd5dc6419efc15163da174c7fc418d223917b76ced4ebdc507fb3ce346708423fd65f4d9b4c688ba04beb3b54725cfec564a69204b3776eeafa8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/162364/cdc_162364_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 250.54 KB ]