UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
Folic Acid in Pregnancy and Childhood Asthma: A US Cohort
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Pulmonology
Publication Date
2018-04-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Maternal and Child Health | Pediatrics | Pulmonology | Respiratory Tract Diseases
Abstract
Prenatal folic acid exposure has been linked to higher risk of childhood asthma in countries that do not fortify the food supply with folic acid. This study seeks to examine this association in the United States, where the food supply is generally fortified with folic acid. Participants were 1279 mother-child pairs from Project Viva, an ongoing prospective birth cohort, with folic acid intake in pregnancy assessed through validated food frequency questionnaires. The primary outcome was physician-diagnosed asthma at mid-childhood. In an unadjusted logistic regression model, higher folic acid intake was associated with lower odds of asthma in mid-childhood (odds ratio [OR] 0.48; 95% CI 0.31-0.76). However, in the adjusted analysis this association was attenuated (adjusted OR [aOR] 0.80; 95% CI 0.49-1.33). Our results suggest that in the United States, where there is generalized folic acid fortification of food, maternal folic acid intake during pregnancy is not associated with asthma development in offspring.
Keywords
folic acid, maternal diet, pediatric, asthma, airway inflammation
DOI of Published Version
10.1177/0009922817729482
Source
Trivedi MK, Sharma S, Rifas-Shiman SL, Camargo CA Jr, Weiss ST, Oken E, Gillman MW, Gold DR, DeMeo DL, Litonjua AA. Folic Acid in Pregnancy and Childhood Asthma: A US Cohort. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2018 Apr;57(4):421-427. doi: 10.1177/0009922817729482. Epub 2017 Sep 8. PMID: 28884603; PMCID: PMC5823746. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Clinical pediatrics
PubMed ID
28884603
Repository Citation
Trivedi MK, Sharma S, Rifas-Shiman SL, Camargo CA, Weiss ST, Oken E, Gillman MW, Gold DR, DeMeo DL, Litonjua AA. (2018). Folic Acid in Pregnancy and Childhood Asthma: A US Cohort. UMass Chan Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.1177/0009922817729482. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/2184