Transforming Preconceptional, Prenatal, and Interconceptional Care Into A Comprehensive Commitment To Women's Health
Received 16 July 2008; accepted 29 July 2008. published online 27 October 2008.
Preconception and interconception care respond to the growing body of evidence that many of the most important determinants of birth outcomes may exist before pregnancy occurs. In this sense, the strategy of extending prenatal care into the preconception and interconception periods marks a useful step in reforming the public health approach to improving birth outcomes. However, although helpful in underscoring the continuity of risk that can ultimately find expression in adverse birth outcomes, the concern is that without greater critical attention these relatively new care constructs have the potential to undermine rather than strengthen a comprehensive system of women's health care.
Stanford University, Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention, Stanford, California
Correspondence to: Paul H. Wise, MD, MPH, Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society, Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Director, Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention, CHP/PCOR, 117 Encina Commons, Stanford, CA 94304-6019; Phone: 650-725-5645; Fax: 650-723-1919.
The author has no direct financial interests that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted manuscript.
ABSTRACT