SERUM FOLATE
Definition
Folate is a B group vitamin that is essential for healthy growth and development. Folate is found naturally in food, such as green leafy vegetables, fruits and grains, while folic acid is the synthetic form of folate added to food or used in dietary supplements. Recent intake of dietary folate can be determined by measuring serum folate in a blood test.1 The serum folate test measures the amount of folate circulating in the blood at the time of the test. Low levels of folate during pregnancy may increase the risk of neural tube defect in the developing fetus.1
Population
Serum folate results were obtained for persons aged 18 years and over, who participated in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Measures Survey (NATSIHMS) and who provided a blood sample. Fasting was not required for this test.
Methodology
A blood sample was collected from participants and serum folate levels were measured at the Douglass Hanly Moir (DHM) laboratory.
There is no consensus of epidemiological cut off reference values for measuring serum folate in the blood. As such, no cut off points have been defined in the NATSIHMS.
Further information about the analysis method and machines used to measure serum folate levels is available in Excel spreadsheet format in the Downloads page of this product.
Data items
The data items and related output categories for this topic are available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.
Interpretation
Points to be considered when interpreting data for this topic include the following:
- Serum folate results do not confirm a specific diagnosis without consultation with a health professional.
- There are a number of different test methods to measure serum folate levels and each test method may produce different results. The data from this topic should therefore be used with caution when comparing serum folate results from other studies using a different test method.
Comparability with other surveys
The NATSIHMS is the first ABS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survey to collect biomedical information. Given it was also the first national level survey (ABS or otherwise) to collect such data for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, no comparisons with previous surveys for this population are possible.
However, biomedical data was also collected for all Australians in the 2011-12 National Health Measures Survey (NHMS) and information about comparisons between the NHMS results and those of non-ABS surveys is available from the
Comparisons with other Australian surveys section of the
Biomedical Results for Chronic Diseases, 2011-12 publication.
ENDNOTES
1 Gibson RS 2005,
Principles of Nutritional Assessment, 2nd ed, New York: Oxford University Press.
Print Page
Print All