Spina bifida before and after folic acid fortification in Canada.

Background: In 1998, fortification of a large variety of cereal products with folic acid became mandatory in Canada. A multicentric study was carried out to assess the impact of this policy on the frequency of NTDs. The present analysis focused on spina bifida.

Impact of folic acid food fortification on the birth prevalence of lipomyelomeningocele in Canada.

Background: Recent studies reported no reduction in the frequency of lipomeningomyelocele (LMMC) in Hawaii and Nova Scotia after the implementation of a folic acid food fortification policy in 1998, while a marked reduction in the prevalence of other NTDs was observed. This study was performed to assess the prevalence of LMMC in Canada in relation to the timing of food fortification.

Methods: The study population included livebirths, stillbirths, and terminations of pregnancies because of fetal anomaly to women residing in seven Canadian provinces, from 1993 to 2002.

Reduction in neural-tube defects after folic acid fortification in Canada.

Background: In 1998, folic acid fortification of a large variety of cereal products became mandatory in Canada, a country where the prevalence of neural-tube defects was historically higher in the eastern provinces than in the western provinces. We assessed changes in the prevalence of neural-tube defects in Canada before and after food fortification with folic acid was implemented.

Methods: The study population included live births, stillbirths, and terminations of pregnancies because of fetal anomalies among women residing in seven Canadian provinces from 1993 to 2002.

The impact of prenatal diagnosis on neural tube defect (NTD) pregnancy versus birth incidence in British Columbia.

The birth incidence of neural tube defect (NTD) cases in British Columbia (B.C.), and elsewhere in North America, is reported to be declining.

Infant mortality among First Nations versus non-First Nations in British Columbia: temporal trends in rural versus urban areas, 1981-2000.

Background: Increasingly more First Nations (FN) people have moved from rural to urban areas. It is unknown how disparities in infant mortality among FN versus non-FN women have changed over time in urban versus rural areas.

Methods: We conducted a birth cohort-based study of all 877 925 live births (56 771 FN and 821 154 non-FN) registered in British Columbia, 1981-2000.

A vital statistics system for determining births and mortality in the First Nations population of British Columbia, Canada.

We describe a unique method for producing province-wide and selected regional birth and death statistics for the First Nations population, We identified births and deaths of persons with Indian Status in the province of British Columbia, Canada, using three databases: the Vital Statistics Agency's database of births and deaths, the Department of Indian Affairs' Indian Status Verification File and the provincial health insurance plan's Status Indian Entitlement file. A birth or death was considered Status Indian if the person was so identified in any of the three sources. From 1991 through 1998, 24,159 live births were identified as Status Indian: 54% by all three sources, 29% by two sources and 17% by one source.