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Abstract To explore the linear relation between the number of women taking folic acid and the rate of neonatal neural tube defects (NTD) in Anhui province, and to provide evidence for evaluation of the effect of the project of taking folic acid to prevent neural tube defects (folic acid project). Methods: The data of women who took folic acid and data of women who had good compliance of taking folic acid were selected from the report of folic acid project since 2009 to 2015. And the NTD rate was selected from the birth defect surveillance system since 2009 to 2015. The linear relations analysis between the number of women who took folic acid and NTD rate was analyzed, and the linear relations between the number of women who had good compliance of taking folic acid and NTD rate was also analyzed. Results: From 2009 to 2015, the number of women who took folic acid and the number of women who had good compliance of taking folic acid were both increasing year by year. The number of women who took folic acid and the number of women who had good compliance of taking folic acid in rural were higher than those in urban. The total NTD rate was decreasing (χ2=15.33, P<0.001), that in urban was fluctuating (χ2=0.17, P=0.677) and that in rural NTD was decreasing (χ2=26.06, P<0.001). The gap of NTD rate between urban and rural had decreased from 5.84/10000 in 2009 to 0.64/10000 in 2015. In rural, the number of women who had good compliance of taking folic acid and NTD rate had preferable linear relations (Y=13.12 2.36X, adjR2=0.94, P<0.001). Conclusion: In Anhui province, there was a linear relation between the number of women who has good compliance of taking folic acid and NTD rate by the birth defect surveillance system reported. The folic acid project plays an important role for reducing NTD rate in rural areas, and the gap between urban and rural areas has reduced. Increasing compliance of women taking folic acid is the key for implementation the folic acid project successfully.
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