Objective: Adequate periconceptional folic acid intake decreases the risk of neural tube defects in infants.  The present study aimed to investigate the awareness of pharmacy students regarding the importance of folic acid intake for the prevention of neural tube defects.
Design: Questionnaire survey.
Methods: A self-administered questionnaire regarding the importance of folic acid intake for the prevention of neural tube defects was distributed to 750 pharmacy students at Tohoku and Ohu Universities.
Results: Among the 685 respondents (response rate; 91.3%), 74 (10.8%) were aware that folic acid intake decreases the risk of neural tube defects.  In multivariate logistic regression analysis, awareness of the importance of folic acid intake was evident among 5th- and 6th-year pharmacy students (odds ratio=3.352, 95% confidence interval=1.797-6.253) and among those who used dietary supplements (2.275, 1.306-3.966).  Among the 74 pharmacy students who recognized the importance of folic acid intake, 17 (23.0%) and 3 (4.1%) were aware that women should begin taking a folic acid supplement before conception and should take about 400 μg per day during pregnancy, respectively.
Conclusion: Only about 10% of the pharmacy students in this study recognized that folic acid intake decreases the risk of neural tube defects, and many were unaware of the recommended intake amount.  Therefore, awareness of the importance of folic acid intake must be more aggressively promoted among pharmacy students.

Objective: Adequate periconceptional intake of folic acid decreases the risk of neural tube defects.  The present study aimed to investigate pharmacists’ awareness of the importance of folic acid intake for the prevention of neural tube defects and to identify factors associated with pharmacists’ awareness.
Design: Questionnaire survey.
Methods: A self-administered questionnaire regarding the importance of folic acid intake for the prevention of neural tube defects was distributed to pharmacists who attended educational seminars offered by the Sendai City Pharmaceutical Association in December 2010.
Results: Among the 166 respondents, 104 (62.7%) pharmacists were aware that folic acid intake decreases neural tube defects.  After stratification for age and sex including history of delivery, female gender and history of delivery were significantly associated with the awareness of the importance of folic acid intake only among pharmacists younger than 40 years old. Of 104 pharmacists who recognized the importance of folic acid intake for the prevention of neural tube defects, 51.0% and 27.9% recognized that women should begin intake of folic acid before conception and should take about 400 μg of folic acid per day during pregnancy, respectively.
Conclusion: Although about 60% of pharmacists recognized that folic acid intake decreases the risk of neural tube defects, many did not know the intake level required to effectively prevent neural tube defects.  Therefore, more aggressive promotion of the awareness of the importance of folic acid intake among pharmacists is warranted.