Do we practice what we preach? A review of actual clinical practice with regards to preconception care guidelines.
OBJECTIVE
To review what past studies have found with regard to existing clinical practices and approaches to providing preconception care.


METHODS
A literature review between 1966 and September 2005 was performed using Medline. Key words included preconception care, preconception counseling, preconception surveys, practice patterns, pregnancy outcomes, prepregnancy planning, and prepregnancy surveys.


RESULTS
There are no current national recommendations that fully address preconception care; as a result, there is wide variability in what is provided clinically under the rubric of preconception care.


CONCLUSIONS
In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored a national summit regarding preconception care and efforts are underway to develop a uniform set of national recommendations and guidelines for preconception care. Understanding how preconception care is presently incorporated and manifested in current medical practices should help in the development of these national guidelines. Knowing where, how, and why some specific preconception recommendations have been successfully adopted and translated into clinical practice, as well as barriers to implementation of other recommendations or guidelines, is vitally important in developing an overarching set of national guidelines. Ultimately, the success of these recommendations rests on their ability to influence and shape women's health policy.
Curtis
Michele
M
University of Texas-Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Abelman
Steve
S
Schulkin
Jay
J
Williams
Jennifer L
JL
Fassett
Elizabeth M
EM
D005260:Female; D005817:Genetic Counseling / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D016742:Preconception Care / Q000592:standards*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D018456:Reproductive Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States