Multivitamin/folic acid supplementation in early pregnancy reduces the prevalence of neural tube defects

Article Abstract:

In the embryo, the neural tube is the precursor of the central nervous system. Defects to the neural tube result in significant deformities of the brain and spinal cord. The present study examines the effectiveness of multivitamin supplementation, particularly folic acid supplementation (a Vitamin B component) as a means of reducing the evidence of neural tube defects (NTD). The patients of 100 participating obstetricians were recruited; a population of 22,776 women participated in all aspects of the study. Mothers were interviewed by phone by trained nurses who collected detailed information on the use of vitamins during their pregnancy with an emphasis on the first trimester (three-month period). Another aspect of the study was a questionnaire that included details of diet, which allowed an estimate of folic acid intake to be calculated. Pregnancy outcome and condition of the child was obtained by a questionnaire mailed to the physicians who delivered the infants (76.5 percent) or to their mothers (23.5 percent). A case of NTD was defined as including spina bifida (incomplete development of spinal column), anencephaly (lack of cerebrum, an important area of the brain) or encephalocele (herniation of the brain). Mothers who never used multivitamin supplementation before or after conception had a rate of 3.5 NTDs per 1,000 births, as compared to a rate of 0.9 NTD per 1,000 births for women who were supplemented during the first six weeks of pregnancy. The risk rate for NTD in mothers who used multivitamins without folic acid supplementation, or for those mothers who took folic acid after the first six weeks of pregnancy, were unchanged from unsupplemented mothers. A substantial reduction in the risk of NTD occurs when women take standard doses of folic acid during the first six weeks of pregnancy.

Health aspects, Folic acid deficiency

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Maternal heat exposure and neural tube defects

Article Abstract:

Women using a hot tub or sauna or having a fever over 100 degrees F. during the first trimester of pregnancy have over twice the risk of giving birth to babies with neural tube defects such as spina bifida or with genetic abnormalities. When considered separately, women using a hot tub had almost three times the risk. Hot tubs may raise body core temperatures to higher levels for longer periods of time than do saunas. Of 23,491 pregnant women, 5,566 were exposed to at least one heat source. The women were not asked the frequency of exposure to these heat sources. The fetus is at greatest risk during the first six menstrual weeks of pregnancy, a fetal age of four weeks. These researchers found no relationship between electric blanket use and fetal abnormality.

Risk factors, Fetus, Pregnancy, Complications of, Pregnancy complications

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Antidepressants and the risk of suicidal behaviors

Article Abstract:

The after effects of the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has been a point of debate from the early 1990s and there had been a rise in the use of these drugs in teenagers since the turn of the century. A research conducted shows that risk of suicidal behavior after starting on antidepressants is similar among all users irrespective of the drugs used by them especially within the first nine days, but there is no drastic change in users in the ten to nineteen age group.

United States, Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical preparations, Antidepressant Preparations, Causes of, Complications and side effects, Antidepressants, Suicidal behavior, Serotonin uptake inhibitors, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, Suicidal behaviour

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