Abstract: Objective：To investigate the relationship between the educational level of Chinese child-bearing women and their knowledge on supplementation of folic acid, by the Meta-analysis of the published data. Methods：Searches were done by using Pubmed (up to Apr. 19th, 2014) with English, and Sinomed, CNKI and VIP with Chinese. The search term combined with the keywords as follows: "folic acid", "pregnancy" and "China" was used to search English papers, while the search term combined with the keywords as: "folic acid" and "women" was used to search Chinese papers. Studies involved in this meta-analysis were defined as the observational study, including the information about the association between the educational level of child-bearing women and their knowledge and/or supplementation of folic acid. Only Chinese women were involved in the studies. Results：A total of 436 papers including 339 Chinese papers and 97 English papers were collected. After selection according to the criterion, a total of 15 eligible studies were remained in the Meta-analysis. Random effect models were used. Meta-analysis showed that the OR values and the related 95%CIs of the knowledge on folic acid were: 2.12 (1.65, 2.72) in those women with high school/technical secondary school education, 6.24 (4.24, 9.19) in those women with at least college education, when compared with those women with less than junior middle school education; and that the OR values and the related 95%CIs of the folic acid supplementation were 1.63 (1.39, 1.93) and 3.48 (2.35, 5.16) in two groups when compared analogously. Conclusions：The knowledge and supplementation of folic acid is related to their educational level in those Chinese child-bearing women. To prevent neural tube defects and to improve the health situation of Chinese women and children, it is necessary to enhance the health education on folic acid for those women with relatively less education.

Key words: Folic acid, Educational status, Meta-analysis