Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug;23(11):1965-1973.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980019003331. Epub 2019 Dec 2.

Folic acid supplementation, dietary folate intake and risk of small for gestational age in China

Huaqi Guo  1   2   3 , Baohong Mao  1 , Meng Wang  1   3 , Qing Liu  1 , Liping Yang  4 , Yahui Xie  1 , Yanxia Wang  1 , Xiaochun He  1 , Hongmei Cui  1 , Xiaojuan Lin  1 , Ling Lv  1 , Min Zhou  1 , Xiaoying Xu  1 , Jie Qiu  1   3 , Yawei Zhang  5
Affiliations

Folic acid supplementation, dietary folate intake and risk of small for gestational age in China

Huaqi Guo et al. Public Health Nutr. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the hypothesis that folic acid supplementation and dietary folate intake before conception and during pregnancy reduce the risk of small for gestational age (SGA) and to examine the joint effect of folic acid supplementation and dietary folate intake on the risk of SGA.

Design: Participants were interviewed by trained study interviewers using a standardized and structured questionnaire. Information on birth outcomes and maternal complications was abstracted from medical records and dietary information was collected via a semi-quantitative FFQ before conception and during pregnancy.

Setting: A birth cohort data analysis using the 2010-2012 Gansu Provincial Maternity and Child Care Hospital.

Participants: Women (n 8758) and their children enrolled in the study.

Results: Folic acid supplementation was associated with a reduced risk of SGA (OR = 0·72, 95 % CI 0·60, 0·86), with the reduced risk seen mainly for SGA at ≥37 weeks of gestational age (OR = 0·70, 95 % CI 0·58, 0·85) and nulliparous SGA (OR = 0·67, 95 % CI 0·54, 0·84). There was no significant association between dietary folate intake and SGA risk.

Conclusions: Our study suggested that folic acid supplementation was associated with a reduced risk of SGA and the risk varied by preterm status and parity.

Keywords: Cohort study; Dietary folate intake; Folic acid supplementation; Small for gestational age.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. McIntire DD, Bloom SL, Casey BM et al.. (1999) Birth weight in relation to morbidity and mortality among newborn infants. N Engl J Med 340, 1234–1238. - PubMed
    1. Pallotto EK & Kilbride HW (2006) Perinatal outcome and later implications of intrauterine growth restriction. Clin Obstet Gynecol 49, 257–269. - PubMed
    1. Hack M, Taylor HG, Drotar D et al.. (2005) Chronic conditions, functional limitations, and special health care needs of school-aged children born with extremely low-birth-weight in the 1990s. JAMA 294, 318–325. - PubMed
    1. Hille ET, den Ouden AL, Saigal S et al.. (2001) Behavioural problems in children who weigh 1000 g or less at birth in four countries. Lancet 357, 1641–1643. - PubMed
    1. Nafee TM, Farrell WE, Carroll WD et al.. (2008) Epigenetic control of fetal gene expression. BJOG 115, 158–168. - PubMed

Publication types