A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that preconception and prenatal exposures
can impact fetal development adversely and lead to potential long-lasting health effects.
Reproductive health professionals have little training on these exposures and how
to counsel patients effectively. We present short summaries of some of the most common
environmental exposures and give providers practical tools with which to counsel patients
in the clinical setting. These tools may enable practitioners to help prevent harmful
environmental exposures and to reduce the risk of future adverse health impacts for
the prenatal and preconception patient population.
Key words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: February 16, 2012
Accepted:
February 13,
2012
Received in revised form:
February 1,
2012
Received:
December 5,
2011
Footnotes
The authors report no conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Mosby, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Comment: Environmental exposures: how to counsel preconception and prenatal patients in the clinical settingAmerican Journal of Obstetrics & GynecologyVol. 207Issue 6
- PreviewSathyanarayana et al1 address the important matter of counseling of reproductive age women on minimizing risks of prenatal environmental exposure that can influence fetal development and maternal health negatively. Mercury exposure is of special interest because the benefits of seafood consumption, mentioned but not emphasized, must be balanced against risks. Untested messaging on this topic is known to cause avoidance of all fish by pregnant women,2 which leads them to eat less fish rather than to shift away from some species but to maintain overall fish consumption.
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