Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any recent measurements of the take-up of folic acid supplements by women of child-bearing age; and whether any such measurements show differences in trends between different age groups.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
This data is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to holding a discussion with the governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Germany, and the governments of the United States and Canada, on the difference in rates of neural tube defects in live births in those two groups of countries in order to explore the different policies which may have led to such differences.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No such discussions are currently planned.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they measure the effectiveness of advice given to women of child bearing age planning a pregnancy according to (1) socio-economic group, (2) ethnicity, and (3) regional location, and if so, how.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of advice given to women of child bearing age planning a pregnancy according to socio-economic group, ethnicity, and regional location.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the scale of the lifetime direct medical costs associated with births affected by neural tube defects compared to those unaffected.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No assessment has been made by the Department of the lifetime direct medical costs associated with births affected by neural tube defects.
As part of a National Institute of Health and Care Excellence study, Examining the Cost-Effectiveness of Moving the Healthy Start Vitamin Programme from a Targeted To a Universal Offering, A. Filby, M. Taylor, M. Jenks, and V. Birley estimated the additional lifetime healthcare cost of a person born with spina bifida to be £94,458. A copy of this report is attached.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the latest estimate of the percentage of women of child-bearing age who are deficient in folic acid.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey provides data on total serum folate and red blood cell folate levels in women of childbearing age in the United Kingdom based on blood samples collected from 2008-2012. 7% of women of childbearing age (16-49 years) had red blood cell folate levels below the clinical threshold indicating risk of anaemia (305 nanomoles per litre (nmol/l)). 3% of women of childbearing age had serum total folate levels below the clinical threshold used by World Health Organization to indicate folate deficiency (6.8nmol/l) and 33% had levels below the threshold indicating possible deficiency (13nmol/l).
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what changes, if any, they have made in the past two years in relation to raising awareness among women of child bearing age of the need to take folic acid supplements prior to conception.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Key components of pre-conception care include healthy lifestyle advice and support and advice for women with pre-existing conditions. General advice and health education messages are provided in a range of settings targeted at women of childbearing age.
Information is also available online via NHS Choices and includes folic acid supplementation and advice on seeing a healthcare professional as early in pregnancy as possible. The Department supports the NHS Choices recommendations that women take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day prior to conception and in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, as it can help prevent neural tube defects.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in each of the last three years, how many pregnancies affected by neural tube defects were second or subsequent pregnancies.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The data is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for introducing a Birth Defects Prevention Month and a Folic Acid Awareness Week similar to those in the United States, and of the potential effects of such a step on public health and the economy.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No such assessment has been carried out.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of pregnancies they estimate are unplanned; and what assessment they have made of the relationship between unplanned pregnancies and the high-risk period for blood folate levels and closure of the neural tube at 27 days of gestation.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
It has been estimated that between 2010 and 2012, 55% of pregnancies in Britain were planned, approximately 16% were unplanned, and 29% were categorised as ‘ambivalent’.
The Government has not made an assessment of the relationship between unplanned pregnancies and the high risk period for blood folate levels and closure of the neural tube.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the trend in recent years of terminated pregnancies due to neural tube defects.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The percentage of terminations for the most common neural tube defects has remained stable in recent years. Between 2012 and 2016, 0.21-0.24% of total abortions were performed under Ground E with the principal medical condition listed as either anencephaly, spina bifida or encephalocele.
Information on the numbers of terminated pregnancies is shown in the following table.
Year | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
Anencephaly | 219 | 237 | 230 | 217 | 208 |
Encephalocele | 31 | 36 | 31 | 36 | 33 |
Spina Bifida | 177 | 159 | 181 | 167 | 149 |
Sub-total | 427 | 432 | 442 | 420 | 390 |
Total number of abortions performed under Ground E | 3,208 | 3,213 | 3,099 | 2,732 | 2,692 |
Total number of abortions | 185,596 | 185,824 | 184,571 | 185,331 | 185,122 |
Percentage of total abortions with a primary diagnosis of anencephaly, encephalocele or spina bifida | 0.23 | 0.23 | 0.24 | 0.23 | 0.21 |
Source: Departmental annually published abortion statistics, 2012-2016