Systematic review of economic evaluation studies on preconception care interventions

Abstract

Implementation of preconception care interventions have been encouraged for improving maternal and child health outcomes; therefore, evidence on their cost-effectiveness is needed. We conducted the systematic review to examine the efficiency of those interventions by collecting evidence from published economic evaluation studies. Out of 14 included studies, almost all (12/14) were in high-income countries. All studies were not cost-utility analysis with genetic disease screening and diabetes management were the common interventions for evaluating their efficiency during preconception period. Preconception care interventions are likely to be cost-effective, especially in low-income countries which incremental benefits had a greater return than developed nations.

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank to Dr. Steegers EAP, Dr. Verheij JB, and Jolanda Koopmanschap Claessens of the Erasmus University Medical Center; and Dr. Herman WH for allowing and handing over their research articles per our request. First author used partial resources under College of Pharmacy, Rangsit University to retrieve relevant articles.

Disclosure statement

All authors have no conflict of interest.

Funding

This study was fully funded by the authors.