Folic Acid Deficiency in Pregnancy

Abstract

FOLATE deficiency has been recognized for some time to be the cause of most cases of macrocytic anemia of pregnancy.1 2 3 The association of megaloblastic anemia with hemorrhage during pregnancy was first noted by Hourihane et al.4 and by Coyle and Geoghegan5 in Dublin. Since then other studies6 have indicated that folate deficiency, as measured by indirect methods, and complications of pregnancy other than anemia (abruptio placentae and third-trimester bleeding) are related. However, in these studies4 5 6 7 the folate deficiency was measured by methods that are not entirely specific (formininoglutamic acid excretion or megaloblastosis).8 9 10 In 1945 Hertz11 showed that folate deficiency diminished . . .