Role of family medical history information in pediatric primary care and public health: introduction.

In February 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored a workgroup meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on the use of family medical history information in pediatric primary care and public health. The meeting focused on pediatric topics as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Family History Public Health Initiative. One outcome of the meeting was a series of published articles that summarized the proceedings and explored 4 topics that emerged as leading issues from the meeting: (1) optimizing use of family history in primary care; (2) linking obstetric and pediatric clinicians through preconception health care; (3) assessing potential campaigns to prevent chronic disease, starting with family history assessment in childhood; and (4) using birth defect family histories for prevention efforts. In this introduction we highlight each article and preview existing efforts in preconception health care and birth defects prevention that use family history.