A wake-up call for preconception health: a clinical review
Judith Stephenson, Danielle Schoenaker, William Hinton, Lucilla Poston, Mary Barker, Nisreen A Alwan, Keith M. Godfrey, Mark A. Hanson, Simon de Lusignan, the UK Preconception Partnership
Abstract
Preparing for a healthy pregnancy, preconception care, should be the norm and a more actively managed step in primary care. Decades of improvement in the quality of maternity care have greatly reduced the risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth, but improvements in preconception care have lagged behind. The health of women as they enter pregnancy remains a major challenge to maternity services, and two-thirds of maternal deaths in the UK are now in women with pre-existing medical conditions. In the UK and most other countries, preconception health is frequently compromised by maternal and paternal obesity, dietary deficiencies, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, mental health issues, and recreational drug use, all of which are associated with poorer pregnancy outcomes and frequently rooted in social and economic deprivation.