The role of maternal reproductive history in the aetiology of neural tube defects.

The contribution of environmental factors to the aetiology of neural tube defects (NTD) has been stressed over recent years and many different risk factors have been proposed. We evaluated the reproductive history of 113 NTD cases to investigate the possible role of maternal age, gestational age, sex, parity and previous pregnancy. Our results show that parity and previous spontaneous abortion can be considered as risk factors for NTD and that an accurate evaluation of reproductive history can be useful for genetic counselling. The known benefits of periconceptional intervention in reducing the incidence of NTD in high risk populations, together with our results, means that mothers with a positive reproductive history for spontaneous abortion and for multiparity are ideal subjects for folic acid periconceptional management.