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National Birth Defects Prevention Month and National Folic Acid Awareness Week

January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month, and January 9--15 is National Folic Acid Awareness Week. Birth defects affect approximately 120,000 newborns in the United States each year; they are the leading cause of infant mortality and contribute substantially to long-term disability (1). In 1992, lifetime care for infants born in a single year with any of 17 major birth defects was estimated to cost approximately $6 billion (1).

The focus of this year's Birth Defects Prevention Month is preconceptional health. Health-care professionals should encourage women of childbearing age to practice healthy preconceptional and prenatal behaviors, including taking multivitamins containing folic acid, managing chronic medical conditions, having regular medical examinations, and avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs.

Taking folic acid before and during early pregnancy can prevent serious birth defects of the spine and brain (i.e., neural tube defects). The rates of such birth defects declined 26% after folic acid was first added to cereal-grain products in 1998 via federal mandate (2).

Information on Birth Defects Prevention Month is available from the March of Dimes (http://www.marchofdimes.com) and the National Birth Defects Prevention Network (http://www.nbdpn.org). Information on National Folic Acid Awareness Week is available from the National Council on Folic Acid (http://www.folicacidinfo.org).

References

  1. CDC. Economic costs of birth defects and cerebral palsy---United States, 1992. MMWR 1995;44:694--9.
  2. CDC. Spina bifida and anencephaly before and after folic acid mandate---United States, 1995--1996 and 1999--2000. MMWR 2004;53:362--5.

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Date last reviewed: 1/5/2006

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Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
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