Increasing Folic Acid Awareness and Knowledge of Future Health Care Providers to Reduce the Incidence of Neural Tube Birth Defects Increasing Folic Acid Awareness and Knowledge of Future Health Care Providers to Reduce the Incidence of Neural Tube Birth Defects Diane Zipley, State Director of Program Services, March of Dimes Arizona Chapter August 26, 2007

Folic Acid Awareness Folic Acid Awareness  Research now shows that adequate intake of folic acid before conception can prevent the incidence of neural tube birth defects by 70% 1  However, less than 50% of women are being informed about the importance of folic acid by their health care provider 2

To address this knowledge gap, the March of Dimes has developed various materials to educate health care professionals about folic acid.

March of Dimes “Folic Acid and the Prevention of Neural Tube Defects” CD-ROM Created by Jordan Perlow, MD, Folic Acid Education Campaign Chairman for the Arizona Chapter of the March of Dimes and Associate Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine for Phoenix Perinatal Associates To examine the effectiveness of incorporating CD-ROM technology in the curriculum of future health care providers, a study was conducted

Importance of Patient Education & Awareness About Folic Acid BEFORE Pregnancy

 It is estimated that throughout the world 500,000 infants are born every year with a neural tube defect (NTD) 3  Approximately 3,000 of these births occur in the United States 3

Differences in NTD rates based on Race/Ethnicity?? Differences in NTD rates based on Race/Ethnicity??

Relative Risk for Spina Bifida By Race/Ethnicity, U.S., * Based on 16 state-based birth defects surveillance systems Source: CDC, Teratology, July/August 1997 Prepared by March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center, 1999 RACE/ETHNICITY Adjusted Relative Risk (95% CI) White1.00 Black0.80 ( ) Hispanic1.41 ( ) Asian/ Pacific Islander0.51 ( ) Native American1.13 ( )

NTDs Among Hispanic Infants Hispanic infants, particularly US-born Mexicans are at greatest risk for NTDs In an analysis of 6 selected states, Hispanic infants had a significantly higher rate of NTDs than non-Hispanic white infants Not all birth defects surveillance programs collect data on Hispanic ethnicity

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, period linked birth/infant death file Prepared by March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center, 2001 Rate per 100,000 live births Black non- Hispanic White non- Hispanic HispanicMexicanPuerto Rican Cuban Central/ Southern American Rate per 100,000 live births

 Participants in the study were local, full-time, first- year PA students enrolled in a Women’s Health course Total N= 73  The purpose of the course was to introduce PA students to gynecology and obstetrics with a primary care focus  Two of the course objectives were related to folic acid and birth defects: (1) assessment and management of perinatal women, and (2) identification of common fetal abnormalities Methodology Methodology

PROCEDURE Single-group, pretest/posttest survey design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of using CD-ROM technology to increase knowledge of folic acid Format of the Folic Acid CD-ROM: Voice-over narration of a 45-minute PowerPoint presentation that includes graphs, photos, and text Content: Includes the etiology of NTDs, clinical research on folic acid, the need for preventive education, and current recommendations for folic acid supplementation

Pre/Post Test Instrument  18 multiple-choice questions, with each question listing 4 possible answers  Questions factually based and derived from a validated survey provided by the March of Dimes and additional information contained on the Folic Acid CD-ROM  Posttest consisted of the same 18 questions with the order changed to reduce recall from the pretest.  Posttest included 4 evaluation questions using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree

Results

CONCLUSIONS Generally, the definitive improvement in posttest over pretest scores shows the effectiveness of the Folic Acid CD-ROM for increasing knowledge and awareness among students

In Addition… Evaluation responses from these students strongly suggested that the Folic Acid CD-ROM: *provided information in a clear and effective manner *adequately covered and delivered the information *encouraged students to commit to recommending folic acid to their future patients

THE FUTURE Educating women to supplement their food intake with synthetic folic acid will reduce the likelihood of infants with NTDs 1,2,,4 Given the student responses in this particular study, it is likely that this group of future PAs will promote folic acid supplementation with their female patients, thereby potentially decreasing the number of NTD-affected pregnancies

This represents a total 22% decrease in neural tube defects for Arizona over the course of the 7 year March of Dimes Folic Acid Education Campaign.

REFERENCES 1. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommendations for the use of folic acid to reduce the number of cases of spina bifida and other neural tube defects. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1992;41(no. RR-14):1–7. 2. March of Dimes. Folic Acid and the Prevention of Birth Defects: A National Survey of Pre pregnancy Awareness and Behavior Among Women of Childbearing Age. 1995–2000. Conducted by the Gallup Organization. Publication no –00. White Plains, NY: March of Dimes, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Knowledge about folic acid and use of multivitamins containing folic acid among reproductive aged women—Georgia MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1996;45:793– U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Knowledge and use of folic acid by women of childbearing age—United States, 1995 and MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1999; 48: 325–327.