Folic Acid Deficiency in Pregnancy

Folic Acid Deficiency in Pregnancy

Problem

Folic Acid Deficiency in Pregnancy is a problem which affects a high number of pregnant women and leads to babies born with deformities. It is, therefore, ideal to have an adequate amount of folate to help reduce occurrences of such problems. In medical terms, Folic acid gets referred as folate which is highly found in green leafy vegetables and form much supplement of diet. To reduce occurrences of folic acid deficiency, women should take about 400 micrograms of folate in their diets(Bailey, 2010). This amount should be composed in daily diets as it is important before a woman conceives and also at the early times after conception. In most occurrences, babies get born with defects such as malformation of neural tube which means that there is incomplete development in some parts of the body which are critical for brain and spinal cord. The most common effects brought by folic acid deficiency are Spine Bifida, which results in incomplete closure of some parts of the spinal column. It also results to encephalocele in cases where some tissues in the brain cells protrude and seen on the surface of the skin(Bailey, 2010). All these defects take place at early stages of pregnancy from day one up to the twenty-eighth day.

Location

From the last census carried out in 2010, Chicago has a population of 2,695, 598 comprising households of 1,194,337 who stay within the city. From statistics, the population density ranges to 4,923.0 /km square. Of this number of homes, there are young children at the age of 18 and bellow who form a percentage of 28.9%. The married couple who stay as a family consists of 35.1%. Other population who had households but did not have husbands forms 18.9% while the remaining percentage of about 40.4 do not have families(Dyson, 2000). On the analysis of income level, the home comprised of $ 38,625 while revenue for a family is about $ 46,748. When comparing the median income between males and female, males have a higher value of $35,907 while women have $30,536. There is a group that lives below poverty line and composed of 19.6% of population and family taking 16.6%.

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Studies also indicate that the city has black people of 32%, white 45.3% and other small races like Asian comprising 5%. Additionally, there is an ethnic makeup of 28% of the population who are Hispanic, and the remaining 72% are non-Hispanic. On education level, the highest standards are among only aged 25 years and above. At high school, there is about 23 %, college at 18%, bachelor’s degrees at 15% and 10% for bachelors and masters respectively while doctorates make up 1.4%.Among the cities found in Illinois, Chicago is the largest and stretches for 22 mi along the shores of Lake Michigan which located in the northeast. Chicago got laid in the year 1830 as a village but later in 1833, it emerged as a city. The principal means of transport is railroads which survived the Chicago fire of 1871. Currently, Chicago is one of the towns in Illinois which is a major great lake port with high commercial, industrial and financial transactions carried out. Much of the wholesale and retail business in the city get done by manufacturing industries(CHURCHILL, 2010). The economy is highly growing due to numerous agricultural commodities which make its board of trade is one the largest in the world in agricultural business.

Time/Prevalence 

In Chicago, most of the women who suffer from this deficiency are about 25% and highly come from lower income individuals who are due to reduced iron supply in their diets. Among young women especially the first timers in pregnancy are at a higher risk due to rapid growth rate they possess and often have poor eating habits(Mahajan & Aundhakar, 2015). From the statistics, it indicates that the prevalence of folic acid deficiency is on a declining trend. When comparing, the year 1987   had 9.6 % while this has reduced to 4.5% by the year 2001. From 2002 to 2012, defects associated with low folic intake in diets is at 2% which represents newborns of up to 1 year old.

Occurrences

In situations when the folic acid deficiency exists, red blood cells tend to enlarge which hinders their normal function. Its events are highly prevalent in women who occasionally experience deficiencies relating to nutritional matters and at times of hemolysis. Their main occurrences are due to genetic disorders which are hereditary during the time when conception takes place. In some instances, it results from getting exposed to other chemicals in the environment. Also noted is illness when one gets unwell at the time of pregnancy which may expose the fetus to defects. Notably, nutritional diets are also major Couse and should be administered at all stages of a woman growth. However, the city of Chicago has not experienced any seasonal occurrence, and most health specialists get people enlightened about the side effects of poor nutrition.

To sum up, it is important to ensure that women get notified to get folic acid of required amounts in their diets. From the studies carried out in Chicago, it indicates that only about 50% of pregnancy in the city get planned for, and therefore, any woman should take it as a priority to get enough folic acid in their diets since it plays a significant part in the development of DNA in the body.