Preconceptional health

Why talk about preconception health and preconception health promotion? Promoting preconception health and, therefore, intervening before conception makes it possible to achieve some important objectives including: putting the couple in the optimal conditions for conception; improve pregnancy outcome; facilitate the recovery of the woman after pregnancy.

To talk about preconception health, it is necessary – first of all – what is meant by "preconception period". We have 4 definitions of preconception period: the traditional definition; the definition that moves from a biological vision; the definition that starts from the individual perspective and, finally, the definition that moves from a public health perspective.

According to the traditional definition, the preconception period is considered the period that includes the 3 months preceding a possible conception. This definition has a limit, namely the difficulty of establishing what the preconception period is since it can only be defined after conception has occurred. This can create problems to implement all the interventions that are necessary to improve the health condition of the woman, who is preparing for pregnancy. The second definition indicates the preconception period as the period that includes conception and the first stages of embryonic development, i.e. those moments of the beginning of life that are more exposed to the action of environmental factors and negative effects of certain lifestyles, such as smoking during pregnancy. Also in this case we have limited time to implement those interventions that require longer times, such as allowing the woman to get pregnant with a balanced weight, working on her body mass index (BMI). A third definition starts from an individual perspective: the preconception period is considered from the moment the couple decides to conceive. Again, if there are no particular fertility problems in the couple, conception takes place in about a month and there would not be enough time for interventions to rebalance the woman's health. Finally, there is the fourth perspective, which is that of public health: we need to start building preconception health as early as adolescence. It is, in fact, the result of many elements that contribute to defining it: adequate nutrition; maintenance of body weight; correct lifestyles; adequate management of medications; prevention of sexually transmitted diseases; vaccination status; hormonal balance of women and men. We must also pay attention to the use of mobile phones and radio frequencies to which we are exposed, which can affect fertility, particularly in men.