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Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health

INTRODUCTION: Preconception care includes any intervention to optimize a woman’s health before pregnancy with the aim to improve maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) outcomes. Preconception care bridges the gap in the continuum of care, and addresses pre-pregnancy health risks and health proble...

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Autores principales: Dean, Sohni V, Lassi, Zohra S, Imam, Ayesha M, Bhutta, Zulfiqar A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4196556/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25414942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-11-S3-S1
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author Dean, Sohni V
Lassi, Zohra S
Imam, Ayesha M
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A
author_facet Dean, Sohni V
Lassi, Zohra S
Imam, Ayesha M
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A
author_sort Dean, Sohni V
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Preconception care includes any intervention to optimize a woman’s health before pregnancy with the aim to improve maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) outcomes. Preconception care bridges the gap in the continuum of care, and addresses pre-pregnancy health risks and health problems that could have negative maternal and fetal consequences. It therefore has potential to further reduce global maternal and child mortality and morbidity, especially in low-income countries where the highest burden of pregnancy-related deaths and disability occurs. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence was conducted to ascertain the possible impact of preconception care for adolescents, women and couples of reproductive age on MNCH outcomes. A comprehensive strategy was used to search electronic reference libraries, and both observational and clinical controlled trials were included. Cross-referencing and a separate search strategy for each preconception risk and intervention ensured wider study capture. RESULTS: Women who received preconception care in either a healthcare center or the community showed improved outcomes, such as smoking cessation; increased use of folic acid; breastfeeding; greater odds of obtaining antenatal care; and lower rates of neonatal mortality. CONCLUSION: Preconception care is effective in improving pregnancy outcomes. Further studies are needed to evaluate consistency and magnitude of effect in different contexts; develop and assess new preconception interventions; and to establish guidelines for the provision of preconception care.
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spelling pubmed-41965562014-11-05 Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health Dean, Sohni V Lassi, Zohra S Imam, Ayesha M Bhutta, Zulfiqar A Reprod Health Review INTRODUCTION: Preconception care includes any intervention to optimize a woman’s health before pregnancy with the aim to improve maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) outcomes. Preconception care bridges the gap in the continuum of care, and addresses pre-pregnancy health risks and health problems that could have negative maternal and fetal consequences. It therefore has potential to further reduce global maternal and child mortality and morbidity, especially in low-income countries where the highest burden of pregnancy-related deaths and disability occurs. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence was conducted to ascertain the possible impact of preconception care for adolescents, women and couples of reproductive age on MNCH outcomes. A comprehensive strategy was used to search electronic reference libraries, and both observational and clinical controlled trials were included. Cross-referencing and a separate search strategy for each preconception risk and intervention ensured wider study capture. RESULTS: Women who received preconception care in either a healthcare center or the community showed improved outcomes, such as smoking cessation; increased use of folic acid; breastfeeding; greater odds of obtaining antenatal care; and lower rates of neonatal mortality. CONCLUSION: Preconception care is effective in improving pregnancy outcomes. Further studies are needed to evaluate consistency and magnitude of effect in different contexts; develop and assess new preconception interventions; and to establish guidelines for the provision of preconception care. BioMed Central 2014-09-26 /pmc/articles/PMC4196556/ /pubmed/25414942 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-11-S3-S1 Text en Copyright © 2014 Dean et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Review
Dean, Sohni V
Lassi, Zohra S
Imam, Ayesha M
Bhutta, Zulfiqar A
Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health
title Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health
title_full Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health
title_fullStr Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health
title_full_unstemmed Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health
title_short Preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health
title_sort preconception care: closing the gap in the continuum of care to accelerate improvements in maternal, newborn and child health
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4196556/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25414942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-11-S3-S1
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