Table 1.

Distribution of variables related to the use of folic acid among pregnant women in 2005

Variables	Total (n = 448)a		No folic acid taken (n = 87)		Folic acid taken in only part of advised period (n = 126)		Folic acid taken in advised period (n = 222)		p value
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Planned pregnancy	347	78%	52	15%	79	23%	206	61%	<0.001
Use of contraceptives
Use of oral contraceptives	218	63%	24	11%	45	21%	144	68%	0.004
Use of other contraceptives	76	22%	10	14%	20	27%	43	59%	0.64
Heard of folic acid
Not heard of it	23	5%	23	100%	0	0%	0	0%
During pregnancy	28	6%	10	38%	16	62%	0	0%
Before pregnancy	397	89%	54	14%	110	28%	222	58%	<0.001
Protective effect known	328	73%	42	13%	97	30%	180	56%	0.17
Know the right period for use	143	32%	14	10%	40	29%	85	61%	0.05
Sources of information
Media	282	66%	32	12%	79	29%	163	60%	0.01
Newspapers and journals	200	47%	25	13%	54	27%	118	60%	0.06
Books	111	26%	8	8%	30	28%	69	65%	0.01
Internet	109	26%	8	8%	37	35%	62	58%	0.03
Radio/TV	17	4%	2	13%	4	25%	10	63%	0.78
Professional	240	57%	32	14%	76	33%	123	53%	0.38
General Practitioner	118	28%	17	15%	40	35%	56	50%	0.42
Midwife	78	18%	9	12%	29	38%	38	55%	0.24
Gynaecologist	40	9%	5	13%	12	32%	21	55%	0.91
Pharmacist	110	26%	15	14%	29	27%	63	59%	0.11
Family	193	45%	29	16%	52	28%	106	57%	0.51
Age (years)
<20	9	2%	6	86%	1	14%	0	0%
20–24	48	11%	15	32%	15	32%	17	36%
25–29	142	32%	21	15%	41	30%	77	55%
30–34	151	34%	25	17%	44	30%	77	53%
>34	95	21%	19	20%	25	27%	49	53%	<0.001
Education level
Low	76	17%	29	40%	21	29%	22	31%
Middle	210	47%	42	21%	61	30%	100	49%
High	158	36%	14	9%	44	28%	98	63%	<0.001
Parity
No previous children	213	48%	34	16%	60	29%	114	55%
One previous child	178	40%	31	18%	52	30%	88	52%
More than one previous child	57	13%	22	39%	14	25%	20	36%	0.003
Used folic acid in a previous pregnancy	207	78%	21	10%	59	30%	119	60%	<0.001

^aThe total in the other three columns does not add up to 448 because of 13 missing data points