Table 3.
Use of folic acid supplements during early pregnancy in the high-prevalence population by residence, before (2002–2004) and after (2011–2012) a massive folic acid supplementation programme, Shanxi Province, China
| Rural population | Urban population | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before (n 358) | After (n 347) | Before (n 204) | After (n 695) | |||||
| Variable | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % |
| Folic acid supplements | 33 | 9·2 | 230 | 66·3*† | 53 | 26·0 | 652 | 93·8* |
| Supplementation before LMP | 9 | 27·3 | 53 | 23·2*† | 16 | 32·0 | 326 | 50·0* |
| Supplementation adherence | ||||||||
| ≥8 d/10 d | 29 | 90·6 | 210 | 91·7† | 29 | 80·6 | 524 | 81·1† |
| 5–7 d/10 d | 3 | 9·4 | 11 | 4·8 | 3 | 8·3 | 82 | 12·7 |
| ≤5 d/10 d | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3·5 | 4 | 11·1 | 40 | 6·2 |
| Total days of supplementation | ||||||||
| <60 d | 27 | 84·4 | 91 | 44·2* | 40 | 76·9 | 126 | 19·6*† |
| 60–120 d | 4 | 12·5 | 87 | 42·2 | 7 | 13·5 | 306 | 47·5 |
| ≥120 d | 1 | 3·1 | 28 | 13·6 | 5 | 9·6 | 212 | 32·9 |
LMP, last menstrual period.
Note: Some variables have missing data.
*P<0·05 before and after the programme in the same population.
†P<0·05 between urban and rural groups after the programme.