Spina Bifida Facts At-A-Glance

• In the United States 4,000 pregnancies are affected by spina bifida each year (an average of 11 pregnancies per day); approximately 30 births in Mississippi per year.
  
  
• Spina bifida occurs during the first month of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant.
  
  
• This birth defect affects over 70,000 Americans with neurological, orthopedic, and urological health complications.
  
  
• 85-90% of babies born with spina bifida survive into adulthood.
  
  
• Persons with spina bifida commonly experience varying degrees of paralysis, difficulties with bowel and bladder management, hydrocephalus, latex allergies and serious neurological impairments.
  
  
• The average lifetime medical cost for a person with spina bifida is $535,000-$1.2M.
  
  
• All women capable of becoming pregnant are at risk of having a child born with spina bifida.
  
  
• 90-95 percent of babies born with spina bifida are born to parents with no family history of spina bifida.
  
  
• Women who have already had a spina bifida affected pregnancy are 20 times more likely to have subsequent affected pregnancies.
  
  
• There are 60 million women of childbearing age in the United States.
  
  
• Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned.
  
  
• If all women of childbearing age were to consume 0.4 mg of folic acid prior to becoming pregnant and throughout the first trimester, the incidence of spina bifida could be prevented by up to 75%.
  
  
• Only 13% of women know folic acid prevents spina bifida.
  
  
• Only 7% of women know that folic acid must be taken daily before becoming pregnant to be effective.