American Academy of Pediatrics Releases 2022 Bright Futures/AAP Periodicity Schedule for Preventive Pediatric Health Care

The AAP encourages the continuity of health care and supervision from birth through adulthood.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released its 2022 Bright Futures/AAP recommendations for preventive pediatric health care, also known as the Periodicity Schedule, adding recommendations to screen for depression and suicide risk to align with other existing guidance from AAP and other health care organizations.

The “2022 Recommendations for Preventive Pediatric Health Care,” will be published in the July 2022 Pediatrics (published online June 21). The recommendations describe the screenings and assessments recommended at each well-child visit from infancy through adolescence, acknowledging that they are designed for the care of healthy children who are developing in a satisfactory fashion.

The 2022 Periodicity Schedule updates also include:

• Behavioral/social/emotional screening (annually from newborn to 21 years) to align with AAP policy, as well as recommendations and guidelines provided by the American College of Obstetricians American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. This recommendation includes asking about caregiver emotional and mental health concerns and social determinants of health, racism, poverty, and relational health.
• Assessing risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection from newborn to 21 years (to account for the range in which the risk assessment can take place) to be consistent with recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the 2021-2024 AAP Red Book: Report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases.
• Assessing risk for conditions that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest or death for all children from 11 to 21 years (to account for the range which the risk assessment can take place) to align with AAP policy.

The Periodicity Schedule will be updated on the AAP.org website (www.aap.org/periodicityschedule).

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.