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Periconceptional use of folic acid and risk of miscarriage – findings of the Oral Cleft Prevention Program in Brazil

  • Camila Vila-Nova EMAIL logo , George L. Wehby , Fernanda C. Queirós , Hrishkesh Chakraborty , Temis M. Félix , Norman Goco , Janet Moore , Eduardo V. Gewehr , Lorene Lins , Carla M.C. Affonso and Jeffrey C. Murray
Published/Copyright: January 16, 2013
Journal of Perinatal Medicine
From the journal Journal of Perinatal Medicine Volume 41 Issue 4

Abstract

Objective: We report on the risk of miscarriage with high- and low-dosage periconceptional folic acid (FA) supplementation from a double-blind randomized clinical trial for prevention of orofacial cleft recurrence in Brazil.

Methods: Women at risk of recurrence of orofacial clefts in their offspring were randomized into high (4 mg/day) and low (0.4 mg/day) doses of FA supplementation. The women received the study pills before pregnancy, and supplementation continued throughout the first trimester. Miscarriage rates were compared between the two FA groups and with the population rate.

Results: A total of 268 pregnancies completed the study protocol, with 141 in the 4.0-mg group and 127 in the 0.4-mg group. The miscarriage rate was 14.2% in the low-dose FA group (0.4 mg/day) and 11.3% for the high-dose group (4 mg/day) (P=0.4877). These miscarriage rates are not significantly different from the miscarriage rate in the Brazilian population, estimated to be around 14% (P=0.311).

Conclusions: These results indicate that high-dose FA does not increase miscarriage risk in this population and add further information to the literature on the safety of high FA supplementation for prevention of birth defect recurrence.

Keywords: Cleft lip; cleft palate; folic acid; orofacial clefts; risk; spontaneous abortion
Corresponding author: Camila Vila Nova, PhD, Centro Universitário Unijorge Avenida Anita Garibaldi, 1901, Garibaldi Prime Federação, Salvador Bahia 40210-750, Brazil, Tel.: +55-71-9989-7627, Fax: +55-71-3310-1689

This study was funded by grant U01HD040561 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and grant U01DE017958-05 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIDCR or NICHD.

Brazilian participating sites: Obras Sociais Irmã Dulce (OSID), Salvador (BA); Hospital de Reabilitação de Anomalias Craniofaciais (HRAC)-Bauru (SP), Centro de Atendimento Integral ao Fissurado Lábio-palatal (CAIF), Curitiba (PR); Fundação para Reabilitação das Deformidades Crânio-Faciais (FUNDEF), Lajeado (RS); Hospital das Clínicas de Porto Alegre (RS); and Centro de Atenção aos Defeitos da Face do IMIP, Recife (PE).

Fernanda Queirós’ research was supported by a fellowship from CAPES/Fulbright (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil/Fulbright Program for non-US citizens, USA; 15087696-1836/07-2).

Conflict of interest statement

Authors’ conflict of interest disclosure: The authors stated that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Ethics approval: The study was approved by the Brazilian National Committee for Ethics in Research (Comissão Nacional de Ética em Pesquisa–CONEP) on September 20, 2001 (ref. no. 1130/2001).

Authors’ contributions: JCM and GLW developed the concept and study design. The data were gathered by CVN, FQ, TMF, LL, and CP. CVN, GLW, and FQ were responsible for the overall drafting of the article. HC and GLW conducted the analysis and contributed to the interpretation of the data along with JM, CVN, FQ, NG, EV, and CP. All authors had final approval of the article to be published.

References

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Received: 2012-7-23
Accepted: 2012-12-7
Published Online: 2013-01-16
Published in Print: 2013-07-01

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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  24. Congress Calendar
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https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2012-0173
Keywords for this article
Cleft lip; cleft palate; folic acid; orofacial clefts; risk; spontaneous abortion

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Masthead
  3. Review article
  4. Anxious and depressive components of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in maternal postpartum psychological problems1)
  5. Original Articles – Obstetrics
  6. Isolated low-normal amniotic fluid volume in the early third trimester: association with adverse perinatal outcomesa
  7. Trends in twin pregnancies and mode of delivery during the last 30 years: inconsistency between guidelines and clinical practice
  8. Prenatal care in adult women exposed to childhood sexual abuse
  9. Maternal and fetal adropin levels in gestational diabetes mellitus
  10. Ethnic disparities in perinatal mortality at 40 and 41 weeks of gestation
  11. Polymorphisms in the activin A receptor type 2A gene affect the onset time and severity of preeclampsia in the Turkish population
  12. Outcome of isolated fetal renal pyelectasis diagnosed during midtrimester screening ultrasound and cut-off value to predict a persistent or progressive pyelectasis in utero
  13. A polymorphism in an autophagy-related gene, ATG16L1, influences time to delivery in women with an unfavorable cervix who require labor induction
  14. Management of gestational hypertension – the impact of HYPITATa
  15. Reliability of quantitative elastography of the uterine cervix in at-term pregnancies
  16. Congenital anomalies, prematurity, and low birth weight rates in relation to nuclear power plant proximity1)
  17. Original Articles – Fetus
  18. Fetal magnetic resonance imaging of lymphangiomas
  19. Original Articles – Newborn
  20. Brainstem dysgenesis during the neonatal period: diagnosis and management
  21. Improving admission temperature in extremely low birth weight infants: a hospital-based multi-intervention quality improvement project
  22. Short Communication
  23. Periconceptional use of folic acid and risk of miscarriage – findings of the Oral Cleft Prevention Program in Brazil
  24. Congress Calendar
  25. Congress Calendar
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