Periconceptional folic acid in The Netherlands in 1995. Socioeconomic differences.

In November 1993 the Dutch Inspectorate of Public Health advised that all women planning a pregnancy should consume 0.5 mg of folic acid daily in the periconceptional period, that is from four weeks before conception until eight weeks thereafter. Thus the risk of fetal neural tube defects (NTD) would be reduced by 50%. As fortified foods were not available in the Netherlands because of legal restrictions, women were advised to take folic acid pills. A major concern was how to inform women planning a pregnancy. A mass media campaign was started with special attention for low socioeconomic status women because generally they are diYcult to reach via campaigns, and because in several countries NTDs are relatively frequent in this group. For the Netherlands it is not known whether NTDs are more frequent in lower socioeconomic status groups. In this paper we describe the relation between socioeconomic status and knowledge and periconceptional consumption of folic acid in the Netherlands in 1995 at the time of the start of the folate awareness campaign.