By: Dr. Riffat Sadiq
Having an early conversation and care with your doctor can help manage and identify the best ways an individual can optimize their own health.
In a study done by the National Institute of Health, it sought to understand how and when women wanted to receive information on preconceptions. Nearly all of the women in the study (98.6%) realized the importance of optimizing their health prior to pregnancy and realized the best time to receive information about preconception health is before conception. The vast majority of patients surveyed (95.3%) preferred to receive information about preconception health from their primary care physician. A majority of women do understand the importance of optimizing their health prior to conception and look to their primary care physician as their preferred source for such information. Study participants demonstrated deficiencies in their knowledge of risk factors that impact maternal and fetal health suggesting that many physicians are not addressing preconception healthcare during routine care.
When choosing your primary physician be sure you have a conversation about your preconception health. For those wanting parenthood in the future, it’s never too early to start the conversation and plan for the healthiest outcome for you and your baby.