Table 1.
Demographic and behavioral characteristics of U.S. Hispanic women of reproductive age (12–49 years), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) a 2011–2018, stratified by pre- and post-implementation of corn masa fortification.
| 2011–2016 | 2017–2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | Weighted % (95% CI) | n | Weighted % (95% CI) | p Value | |
| Total b | 1643 | 427 | |||
| Age | 0.40 | ||||
| 12–24 | 770 | 36.4 (33.6, 39.3) | 196 | 39.7 (34.8, 44.6) | |
| 25–34 | 329 | 26.4 (23.8, 29.0) | 77 | 23.4 (18.5, 28.2) | |
| 35–49 | 544 | 37.2 (34.7, 39.7) | 154 | 36.9 (32.1, 41.7) | |
| Education level | 0.04 | ||||
| <High School | 881 | 46.1 (42.7, 49.5) | 213 | 38.2 (33.6, 42.8) | |
| High School graduate/GED | 281 | 18.3 (16.0, 20.7) | 86 | 24.6 (18.8, 30.4) | |
| >High School | 477 | 35.6 (31.9, 39.2) | 127 | 37.2 (30.5, 43.9) | |
| Missing | 4 | — | 1 | — | |
| Poverty income ratio | 0.03 | ||||
| <1.0 | 561 | 37.2 (33.4, 41.0) | 106 | 27.4 (22.0, 32.8) | |
| 1.0–1.9 | 400 | 27.2 (24.2, 30.2) | 115 | 31.3 (21.6, 41.1) | |
| 2.0–3.9 | 322 | 23.6 (20.0, 27.3) | 72 | 22.2 (16.0, 28.5) | |
| ≥4.0 | 142 | 11.9 (9.1, 14.6) | 51 | 19.1 (15.0, 23.1) | |
| Missing | 218 | — | 83 | — | |
| Body mass index (BMI) [kg/m2] | 0.915 | ||||
| Underweight (BMI < 18.5) | 75 | 3.4 (2.6, 4.2) | 15 | 3.0 (1.6, 4.4) | |
| Normal Weight (18.5 ≤ BMI < 25) | 524 | 29.6 (27.2, 32.1) | 126 | 29.7 (26.3, 33.1) | |
| Overweight (25 ≤ BMI < 30) | 441 | 28.4 (25.8, 31.1) | 124 | 29.6 (24.8, 34.4) | |
| Obese (BMI ≥ 30) | 584 | 38.5 (35.6, 41.5) | 154 | 37.7 (33.4, 41.9) | |
| Missing | 19 | — | 8 | — | |
| Smoking status | 0.93 | ||||
| Not smoking | 1503 | 91.5 (89.5, 93.4) | 389 | 91.3 (87.7, 94.9) | |
| Smoking | 121 | 8.5 (6.6, 10.5) | 33 | 8.7 (5.1, 12.3) | |
| Missing | 19 | — | 5 | — | |
| RBCb folate concentration by risk category | 0.52 | ||||
| High (≤585 nmol/L) | 90 | 5.4 (4.2, 6.6) | 25 | 6.9 (5.5, 8.4) | |
| Elevated (586–747 nmol/L) | 188 | 11.4 (9.8, 13.0) | 49 | 11.9 (8.0, 15.7) | |
| Optimal (748–1215 nmol/L) | 931 | 55.7 (53.6, 57.7) | 241 | 53.1 (48.5, 57.7) | |
| Limited additional benefit (≥1216 nmol/L) | 434 | 27.6 (25.2, 29.9) | 112 | 28.1 (24.2, 32.0) | |
| Folic acid (FA) source | 0.016 | ||||
| ECGP only | 914 | 56.0 (53.1, 58.9) | 265 | 63.8 (60.4, 67.3) | |
| ECGP + SUPP | 248 | 17.0 (15.0, 19.0) | 66 | 17.4 (14.4, 20.3) | |
| ECGP + RTE | 404 | 22.1 (19.8, 24.5) | 80 | 15.9 (11.4, 20.5) | |
| ECGP + SUPP + RTE | 77 | 4.9 (3.6, 6.1) | 16 | 2.9 (1.2, 4.5) | |
| Corn masa consumption | 0.59 | ||||
| No masa | 591 | 34.9 (31.0, 38.9) | 146 | 38.1 (34.2, 41.9) | |
| Masa | 727 | 43.2 (39.7, 46.8) | 199 | 41.7 (36.2, 47.1) | |
| No masa + SUPP | 146 | 9.8 (7.9, 11.7) | 34 | 9.7 (6.8, 12.6) | |
| Masa + SUPP | 179 | 12.0 (10.1, 13.9) | 48 | 10.6 (8.2, 12.9) | |
| FA supplement dose | 0.48 | ||||
| <400 | 183 | 12.0 (10.1, 13.9) | 53 | 12.6 (8.6, 16.7) | |
| ≥400 | 142 | 9.8 (8.2, 11.4) | 29 | 7.6 (4.5, 10.7) | |
| None | 1318 | 78.2 (75.7, 80.6) | 345 | 79.8 (76.3, 83.2) | |
| Time spent in U.S | 0.018 | ||||
| U.S Born | 901 | 53.0 (48.3, 57.7) | 231 | 58.4 (53.6, 63.1) | |
| Born outside U.S, been in U.S ≥15 years | 293 | 20.9 (18.6, 23.1) | 103 | 23.9 (19.9, 27.9) | |
| Born outside U.S, been in U.S <15 years | 389 | 26.2 (22.5, 29.8) | 73 | 17.7 (12.8, 22.7) | |
| Missing | 60 | — | 20 | — | |
| Primary language spoken at home | 0.50 | ||||
| Primarily English | 655 | 40.4 (36.8, 44.0) | 160 | 41.4 (35.4, 47.4) | |
| Equal Spanish and English | 337 | 18.4 (15.9, 21.0) | 95 | 20.6 (16.4, 24.8) | |
| Primarily Spanish | 644 | 41.1 (37.7, 44.6) | 168 | 38.0 (33.8, 42.2) | |
| Missing | 7 | — | 4 | — |
a Abbreviations: enriched cereal grain product (ECGP), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), red blood cell (RBC), ready-to-eat cereals (RTE), supplement use (SUPP); b Excluded those who did not attend the mobile examination center (2011–2016: N = 76, 2017–2018: N = 23) and those who had missing RBC folate concentrations (2011–2016: N = 91, 2017–2018: N = 20); p-values determined using Chi-square test.