Table 4.
Use of folic acid supplements during early pregnancy in the low-prevalence population by residence, before (2002–2004) and after (2011–2012) a massive folic acid supplementation programme, Jiangsu Province, China
| Rural population | Urban population | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before (n 324) | After (n 253) | Before (n 368) | After (n 435) | |||||
| Variable | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % |
| Folic acid supplements | 229 | 70·7 | 222 | 87·7*† | 229 | 62·2 | 412 | 94·7* |
| Supplementation before LMP | 114 | 54·0 | 88 | 39·6*† | 89 | 39·0 | 211 | 51·1* |
| Supplementation adherence | ||||||||
| ≥8 d/10 d | 174 | 78·4 | 169 | 82·4*† | 175 | 78·1 | 351 | 90·7*† |
| 5–7 d/10 d | 33 | 14·9 | 29 | 14·1 | 34 | 15·2 | 29 | 7·5 |
| ≤5 d/10 d | 15 | 6·8 | 7 | 3·4 | 15 | 6·7 | 7 | 1·8 |
| Total days of supplementation | ||||||||
| <60 d | 79 | 45·4 | 143 | 68·1* | 136 | 63·3 | 200 | 51·2* |
| 60–120 d | 76 | 43·7 | 42 | 20·0 | 61 | 28·4 | 104 | 26·6 |
| ≥120 d | 19 | 10·9 | 25 | 11·9 | 18 | 8·4 | 87 | 22·3 |
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.