Prevalence and determinants of preconception folic acid use: an Italian multicenter survey

Table 1 Characteristics of the study sample

Characteristic		No. of women^a
Characteristic		n	%
Maternal age (years)
	<25	130	5.9
	25–29	404	18.5
	30–34	724	33.1
	35–39	660	30.2
	40 or more	209	9.5
Parity
	0	1,246	56.9
	1	730	33.3
	2	171	7.8
	3 or more	42	1.9
Educational level
	Primary school	331	15.1
	Secondary school	960	43.9
	University	890	40.7
Marital status
	No partner	213	9.7
	Married/cohabiting	1,957	89.4
Citizenship
	Non-Italian	319	14.6
	Italian	1,867	85.3
Working activity
	Studying	106	4.8
	Working	1,683	76.9
	Working at home	283	12.9
	Not working	94	4.3
Pregnancy intention
	Unintended	121	5.5
	Mistimed	646	29.5
	Intended	1,392	63.6
Preconception health visit
	No	1,266	57.8
	Yes	907	41.4
Infertility treatment
	No	2,001	91.4
	Ovulation inductor use, no ART	31	1.4
	ART	128	5.8
Maternal smoking before pregnancy
	No	1,614	73.7
	Yes	575	26.3
BMI before pregnancy
	Underweight	180	8.2
	Normal weight	1,573	71.9
	Pre-obese	303	13.8
	Obese	122	5.6
Chronic disease
	No	1,959	89.5
	Yes	208	9.5

Abbreviation: ART assisted reproductive technology, BMI body mass index
^aPercentages do not add to 2,189 and 100 % due to missing data: 62 women on maternal age, 8 women on educational level, 19 women on marital status, 3 women on citizenship, 23 women on working activity, 30 women on pregnancy intention, 16 women on preconception health visit, 29 women on infertility treatment, 11 women on body mass index before pregnancy, and 22 women with chronic disease

ISSN: 1824-7288