The role of maternal nutrition in the development and management of hydrocephalus in pregnancy: A narrative review

Maternal nutrition reflects the health and well-being of the fetus, making it one of the most critical and controllable factors in ensuring healthy growth and development throughout pregnancy. Therefore, deficiencies in certain nutrients during gestation could result in neurodevelopmental disorders like hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus (HC) is a diverse condition marked by the accumulation of abnormal volumes of CSF within the brain's ventricles and subarachnoid space, contributing to approximately 276,000 neonatal deaths annually worldwide. Therefore, this review aims to analyze the role of maternal nutrition in the development and potential management of hydrocephalus during pregnancy. The search protocol involves searching these primary databases: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and Research Rabbit supplemented by a manual search of references from selected relevant articles. Relevant articles that studied the relationship between maternal nutrition and congenital anomalies, multivitamin supplementation in pregnancy, the use of animal models to detect the development of hydrocephalus, and so on were reviewed. Relevant older articles were also included. It is concluded that maternal folic acid-fortified multivitamin supplementation during the periconceptional period is effective against the development of hydrocephalus. Multivitamin folic acid supplementation is recommended for women of childbearing age, whether or not, they are planning to get pregnant. Further research on the mechanism of how folic acid prevents congenital hydrocephalus should be explored.