Anum Fatima, Nadia Saif, Mansoor Ghani, Sardar Ali.
KNOWLEDGE OF WOMEN; Supplementation of folic acid in periconceptional period.
Professional Med J Jan ;23(07):828-34.

Objectives: Around 50 to 70% of the neural tube defects can be prevented if a woman consumes sufficient folic acid daily before conception and throughout first trimester of her pregnancy. Therefore, the women should be well aware about the apt supplementation of folic acid to mitigate those miseries that can be resulted from its deficiency. Study Design: A descriptive survey design. Setting: Obstetrical OPDs of Lahore General Hospital, Lady Aitchison Hospital, Jinnah Hospital Lahore, DHQ Hospital Multan, DHQ Hospital Faisalabad, and DHQ Hospital Rawalpindi. Methodology: A total of 300 pregnant women were studied to assess the level of knowledge and practices among women regarding use of folic acid before and during pregnancy. Non probability convenient sampling technique was used for the purpose. Data was collected by a self administered questionnaire and was analysed by SPSS version 20. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The results signified that a major fraction of pregnant women 227 (76%) were having poor level of knowledge as they scored less than 50% on knowledge based questions in the questionnaire. Only 4% were distinguished with excellent knowledge according to arbitrary scale, which were made-up to be a very low percentage. Conclusion: Findings of the study suggested that the knowledge of the women regarding folic acid supplementation is insufficient that may in response lead to increase risk for the incidences of neural tube defect.

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