Prevención de los defectos del tubo neural mediante suplementatión adecuada con ácido fólico

Background: The risk of both occurrence and recurrence of neural tube's defects is decreasing due, quite possibly, to the supplementation with folic acid. Patients and Methods: Transversal study about supplementation with folic acid developed by means of an anonymous and voluntary survey to 928 women of 12 weeks of gestation. For the economic study, it was calculated the cost of a daily defined dose (DDD) adjusted to current recommendations. Results: 15.4% of gestating women did a correct supplementation with folic acid; being the planning of pregnancy one of the influential factors (p < 0. 001). It exists an unclear idea about the correct pharmacological supplementation, coupled with an irrational use of existing pharmaceutical specialties with either folic acid or its derivatives. Conclusions: The percentage of women that do an adequate supplementation is low. Furthermore, it exists a high prescription of pharmaceutical specialties derived from folic acid, whose cost/benefit is much higher than others, with a lower cost and widely proven benefits