ABSTRACT
Preconception care is a set of interventions that aim to identify and modify biomedical, behavioral, and social risks to a patient's health or pregnancy outcome through prevention and management. Many of the preventive measures take time—often months—such as quitting smoking, losing weight, folic acid supplementation, and stabilization of medical conditions with effective and safe medications. Topics pertinent to optimizing preconception health and therefore future maternal and perinatal outcome should be discussed. Lifelong habits of healthy diet and regular exercise should be established preconceptionally. The preconception intervention with the most evidence-based data to support its efficacy is folic acid supplementation. There are currently no preconception recommendations for a patient with a history of preterm birth outside of the general recommendations for patients trying to conceive. There is literature for evidence-based recommendations on each disease or condition that can involve the reproductive-age patient and affect their reproductive health.
