ABSTRACT

Preconception care is a preventive attempt to detect, solve or consult the risky physical, medical and psychosocial conditions that threaten maternal and fetal health in an appropriate way before pregnancy. The term “preconcep-tion care” covers screening, and therapy as well as counseling concepts and fundamentally intend to improve the couple’s health and consequently to improve child health status. Preconception care is accepted as a duty of the whole medical staff. In Turkey, there is considerable progress in the field of prenatal/antenatal care, but no precon-ception care guidelines are put into practice at present. The aim of this review is to define the preconception care, to clarify the importance of the subject, to summarize the evidence-based universal preconception care applicati-ons that no health care worker should overlook, and to prepare a practical preconception risk assessment check-list that can be used in our country. In this review, preconception screening/supplementation/treatment priorities for Turkey were discussed in the context of the preconception care experiences of the world and in the light of national data. Also, some physi-cal examinations/ laboratory tests for preconception care were proposed. The check-list (Preconception Care History/ Physical Examination/ Laboratory Test Form) presented at the end of this review is a practical tool for health care workers to define risks and to guide preconception counseling. Thus, the Preconception Care History/ Physical Examination/ Laboratory Test Form constituted in this review can be integrated into Turkey’s national preconception care program. (Gazi Med J 2012; 23: 77-90)