Supplementation of the mothers diet with folate can reduce the incidence of neural tube defects by about 70%, and can also decrease the severity of these defects when they occur. It is unknown how or why folic acid has this effect.Spina bifida does not follow direct patterns of heredity as do muscular dystrophy or haemophilia. Studies show a woman having had one child with a neural tube defect such as spina bifida has about a 3% risk of having another affected child. This risk can be reduced with folic acid supplementation before pregnancy. For the general population, low-dose folic acid supplements are advised (0.4 mg/day). Prevention
There is neither a single cause of spina bifida nor any known way to prevent it entirely. However, dietary supplementation with folic acid has been shown to be helpful in reducing the incidence of spina bifida. Sources of folic acid include whole grains, fortified breakfast cereals, dried beans, leaf vegetables and fruits. However it is difficult for women to get the recommended 400 micrograms of folic acid a day from unfortified foods. Globally, fortified wheat flour is credited with preventing 50 thousand neural tube birth defects like spina bifida a year, but 230,000 could be prevented every year through this strategy.Folate fortification of enriched grain products has been mandatory in the United States since 1998. This prevents an estimated 600 to 700 incidents of spina bifida a year in the U.S. and saves $400 - $600 million in healthcare expenses.
The skin at the site of the lesion may be normal, or it may have some hair growing from it; there may be a dimple in the skin, or a birthmark. Unlike most other types of neural tube defects, spina bifida occulta is not associated with increased AFP, a common screening tool used to detect neural tube defects in utero. This is because, unlike in most of the other neural tube defects, the dural lining is maintained.Many people with this type of spina bifida do not even know they have it, as the condition is asymptomatic in most cases. A systematic review of radiographic research studies found no relationship between spina bifida occulta and back pain. More recent studies not included in the review support the negative findings.However other studies suggest spina bifida occulta is not always harmless. One study found that among patients with back pain severity is worse if spina bifida occulta is present.Incomplete posterior fusion is not a true spina bifida and is very rarely of neurological significance. Meningocele
A posterior meningocele () or meningeal cyst () is the least common form of spina bifida. In this form, a single developmental defect allows the meninges to herniate between the vertebrae. As the nervous system remains undamaged, individuals with meningocele are unlikely to have long-term health problems, although cases of tethered cord have been reported.