Pediatrics
Vol. 130
No. 2
August 1, 2012
pp. e399
-e407
(doi:
10.1542/peds.2011-2087)
The development and use of evidence-based recommendations for preventive
care by primary care providers caring for children
is an ongoing challenge.
This issue is further
complicated by the fact that a higher proportion of recommendations by
the
US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) for
pediatric preventive services in comparison with adult services have
insufficient
evidence to recommend for or against the service.
One important root cause for this problem is the relative lack of high
quality
screening and counseling studies in pediatric
primary care settings. The paucity of studies limits the development of
additional
evidence-based guidelines to enhance best practices
for pediatric and adolescent conditions. In this article, we describe
the following: (1) evidence-based primary care
preventive services as a strategy for addressing important pediatric
morbidities,
(2) the process of making evidence-based screening
recommendations by the USPSTF, (3) the current library of USPSTF
recommendations
for children and adolescents, and (4) factors
influencing the use of USPSTF recommendations and other evidence-based
guidelines
by clinicians. Strategies to accelerate the
implementation of evidence-based services and areas of need for future
research
to fill key gaps in evidence-based recommendations
and guidelines are highlighted.
