Is level of knowledge, attitude and use of folic acid among pregnant women in Croatia a call for public health action?
Year: 2009
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Aim: Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Croatian women regarding use of folic acid (FA) before and during pregnancy are assessed. Croatia has no current official recommendations for folic acid use for women who are planning pregnancy or are already pregnant, and there is no fortification of staple foods with FA. Methods. Sample consisted of women who delivered at the Clinical Hospital Center Petrova, and a County hospital in Poega, They were inter- viewed by trained medical technician or nurse about their knowledge, be- lieves and use of FA. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, bi- nary logistic regression and the c 2 test. Also we searched the market for availability of food supplements containing FA. Results: Among 603 women, 432 (71.7%) planned the current preg- nancy, 306 (50.7%) did not take any vitamin supplement; 170 (28.2%) took some multivitamin supplements, and only 127 (21.1%) took FA sup- plements. Of those who have taken supplements, 58 (19.5%) decided to take FA on their own, 64 (21.5%) based on recommendations from a physician and several mentioned other sources (nurse, pharmacists, family member or media). In total 287 (47.6%) did not know what FA is. Logistic regression analysis showed that planned pregnancy is the strongest positive predictor for taking FA, while smoking and number of pregnancies are negative pre- dictors. Conclusion. Awareness of FA role and its requirements before and dur- ing pregnancy is low among interviewed women. Better education for, both, women and health care professionals, as well as need for fortification of some staple food are recognized as important public health priorities in Croatia.
Language: English
Subfield: Nutrition and Dietetics
Field: Nursing
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1846583677