Conhecimento de mães sobre fatores de risco e prevenção do retardo mental e/ou defeitos congênitos

A survey was conducted among mothers living in Maringa, Brazil, to verify their knowledge about risk factors for mental retardation and prevention of this condition. A structured interview was applied to 100 mothers randomly drafted from the birth registers occurred between May and September 2003 in this city. The answers were compared by the Chi-square test or by the Student’s t test at the 5% significance level. The results have shown that most of the mothers do not know the meaning of prenatal diagnosis (83%) and genetic counseling (92%); 77% are unaware of the association between folic acid deficiency and neural tube defects; 75% do not recognize toxoplasmosis as a cause of mental retardation and 46% underestimate the association of mother’s age with the high risk for Down syndrome. The results suggest the necessity of adopting major educational efforts to raise awareness of the risk factors associated with mental retardation and/or birth defects among the primary health care level.