TY - JOUR T1 - Pre-conception folic acid intake and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children AU - Uzun, Mehmet Erdem AU - Kaymaz, Nazan AU - Aylanc, Hakan AU - Gökten, Emel Sarı AU - Şirin, Hande AU - Battal, Fatih PY - 2023 DA - March Y2 - 2022 DO - 10.18621/eurj.1129774 JF - The European Research Journal JO - Eur Res J PB - Prusa Medical Publishing WT - DergiPark SN - 2149-3189 SP - 322 EP - 327 VL - 9 IS - 2 LA - en AB - Objectives: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder in children. It is thoughtto occur due to the interaction of many genetic and environmental factors during early development. Manystudies have been conducted to investigate the etiology of ADHD. Some have investigated neurobiology, andothers have investigated malnutrition and trace element deficiency. To investigate the effect of folic acid intakeduring the pre-conception period in terms of ADHD development.Methods: Five hundred and ninety-eight participants, 246 children with ADHD, and 352 healthy controls wereenrolled. A questionnaire was completed, including socio-demographic information and the use of folic acidand other supplements such as a multivitamin, iron, and omega 3 during pregnancy. Data were examined todetermine associations with ADHD. Mann-Whitney U tests for continuous variables, Pearson’s chi-square,and Fisher’s exact tests for categorical variables were used to compare groups.Results: The use of folic acid during pre-pregnancy among mothers who had a child with ADHD was 13%and this was 31% in the control group (p < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference betweenthe groups’ use of folic acid in pregnancy (p = 0.617). Other situations related to ADHD were advanced maternalage (p < 0.001 for both groups), abnormal double screening test results in pregnancy (27% vs. 5%, p < 0.001)and omega 3 use in pregnancy (p < 0.001).Conclusions: The use of folic acid before and during pregnancy is important for neurological development.However, there is little data on use before pregnancy in the literature. This study shows that folic acid takenbefore pregnancy may prevent ADHD in childhood. The present study recommends folic acid usage in plannedpregnancy to prevent ADHD in the child. KW - Pre-pregnancy KW - folic acid KW - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder KW - children CR - 1. Friel JK, Frecker M, Fraser FC. Nutritional patterns of mothers of children with neural tube defects in Newfoundland. Am J Med Genet 1995;55:195-9. CR - 2. Lakhan SE, Vieira KF. Nutritional therapies for mental disorders. Nutr J 2008;7:2. CR - 3. Chan A, Tchantchou F, Graves V, Rozen R, Shea TB. 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