All women and men of reproductive age will achieve optimal health and wellness, fostering a healthy life course for them and any children they may have.Data is an important component of improving preventive care for women. Clinical and population data is important to allow clinics, health systems, and states to monitor the preconception health and preconception care of their populations. The Research and Surveillance Workgroup of the Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative have focused significant attention on developing a systematic process to evaluate, prioritize, and select indicators that state maternal and child health programs can use for preconception health surveillance. Groups of clinicians have likewise been developing and refining approaches to using clinical data to assess change.
Below are several key publications about surveillance and benchmarking change:
- Measuring Female Veterans’ Prepregnancy Wellness Using Department of Veterans Affairs’ Health Record Data, Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2021.
- Surveillance Indicators for Women’s Preconception Care, Journal of Women’s Health, 2020
- Preconception Health Indicators for Public Health Surveillance, Journal of Women’s Health, 2018
- Disparities in Preconception Health Indicators – Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2013-2015, and Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, 2013-2014, MMWR Surveill Summ, 2018
- Making the Case: The Importance of Using 10 Key Preconception Indicators in Understanding the Health of Women of Reproductive Age, Journal of Women’s Health, 2018
- Diabetes During Pregnancy: Surveillance, Preconception Care, and Postpartum Care, Journal of Women’s Health, 2018
The Research and Surveillance Workgroup and Clinical Workgroup used a similar systematic process to identify and evaluate preconception care indicators from nationwide public health surveillance systems that MCH programs can use for state-level surveillance.
