IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v10y2013i4p1312-1323d24646.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food Fortification and Decline in the Prevalence of Neural Tube Defects: Does Public Intervention Reduce the Socioeconomic Gap in Prevalence?

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammad M. Agha

    (Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada
    Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, M5B 1W8, Canada
    Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario, Toronto, ON M5G 1V2, Canada
    Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada)

  • Richard H. Glazier

    (Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada
    Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, M5B 1W8, Canada
    Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada
    Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1V7, Canada)

  • Rahim Moineddin

    (Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada
    Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, M5B 1W8, Canada
    Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1V7, Canada)

  • Aideen M. Moore

    (Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M6, Canada
    Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1V7, Canada
    Division of Paediatric Medicine, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada)

  • Astrid Guttmann

    (Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5, Canada
    Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M6, Canada
    Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1V7, Canada
    Division of Paediatric Medicine, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada)

Abstract

Objective : A significant decline in the prevalence of neural tube defects (NTD) through food fortification has been reported. Questions remain, however, about the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing the gap in prevalence across socioeconomic status (SES). Study Design : Using health number and through record linkage, children born in Ontario hospitals between 1994 and 2009 were followed for the diagnosis of congenital anomalies. SES quintiles were assigned to each child using census information at the time of birth. Adjusted rates and multivariate models were used to compare trends among children born in different SES groups. Results : Children born in low SES areas had significantly higher rates of NTDs (RR = 1.25, CI: 1.14–1.37). Prevalence of NTDs among children born in low and high SES areas declined since food fortification began in 1999 although has started rising again since 2006. While the crude decline was greater in low SES areas, after adjustment for maternal age, the slope of decline and SES gap in prevalence rates remained unchanged overtime. Conclusions : While food fortification is successful in reducing the prevalence of NTDs, it was not associated with removing the gap between high and low SES groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad M. Agha & Richard H. Glazier & Rahim Moineddin & Aideen M. Moore & Astrid Guttmann, 2013. "Food Fortification and Decline in the Prevalence of Neural Tube Defects: Does Public Intervention Reduce the Socioeconomic Gap in Prevalence?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:4:p:1312-1323:d:24646
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/4/1312/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/4/1312/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wasserman, C.R. & Shaw, G.M. & Selvin, S. & Gould, J.B. & Syme, S.L., 1998. "Socioeconomic status, neighborhood social conditions, and neural tube defects," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(11), pages 1674-1680.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Séverine Deguen & Wahida Kihal & Maxime Jeanjean & Cindy Padilla & Denis Zmirou-Navier, 2016. "Neighborhood Deprivation and Risk of Congenital Heart Defects, Neural Tube Defects and Orofacial Clefts: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-25, October.
    2. Chunzhu Wei & Pablo Cabrera-Barona & Thomas Blaschke, 2016. "Local Geographic Variation of Public Services Inequality: Does the Neighborhood Scale Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Vinikoor-Imler, L.C. & Messer, L.C. & Evenson, K.R. & Laraia, B.A., 2011. "Neighborhood conditions are associated with maternal health behaviors and pregnancy outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(9), pages 1302-1311.
    4. Root, Elisabeth D. & Meyer, Robert E. & Emch, Michael, 2011. "Socioeconomic context and gastroschisis: Exploring associations at various geographic scales," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(4), pages 625-633, February.
    5. Minke R. C. van Minde & Marlou L. A. de Kroon & Meertien K. Sijpkens & Hein Raat & Eric A. P. Steegers & Loes C. M. Bertens, 2021. "Associations between Socio-Economic Status and Unfavorable Social Indicators of Child Wellbeing; a Neighbourhood Level Data Design," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-11, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:4:p:1312-1323:d:24646. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.