Birth outcomes in relation to neighborhood food access and individual food insecurity during pregnancy in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)-wide cohort study

BACKGROUND

Limited access to healthy foods, resulting from residence in neighborhoods with low-food access or from household food insecurity, is a public health concern. Contributions of these measures during pregnancy to birth outcomes remain understudied.

OBJECTIVES

We examined associations between neighborhood food access and individual food insecurity during pregnancy with birth outcomes.

METHODS

We used data from 53 cohorts participating in the nationwide Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes-Wide Cohort Study. Participant inclusion required a geocoded residential address or response to a food insecurity question during pregnancy and information on birth outcomes. Exposures include low-income-low-food-access (LILA, where the nearest supermarket is >0.5 miles for urban or >10 miles for rural areas) or low-income-low-vehicle-access (LILV, where few households have a vehicle and >0.5 miles from the nearest supermarket) neighborhoods and individual food insecurity. Mixed-effects models estimated associations with birth outcomes, adjusting for socioeconomic and pregnancy characteristics.

RESULTS

Among 22,206 pregnant participants (mean age 30.4 y) with neighborhood food access data, 24.1% resided in LILA neighborhoods and 13.6% in LILV neighborhoods. Of 1630 pregnant participants with individual-level food insecurity data (mean age 29.7 y), 8.0% experienced food insecurity. Residence in LILA (compared with non-LILA) neighborhoods was associated with lower birth weight [β -44.3 g; 95% confidence interval (CI): -62.9, -25.6], lower birth weight-for-gestational-age z-score (-0.09 SD units; -0.12, -0.05), higher odds of small-for-gestational-age [odds ratio (OR) 1.15; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.33], and lower odds of large-for-gestational-age (0.85; 95% CI: 0.77, 0.94). Similar findings were observed for residence in LILV neighborhoods. No associations of individual food insecurity with birth outcomes were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

Residence in LILA or LILV neighborhoods during pregnancy is associated with adverse birth outcomes. These findings highlight the need for future studies examining whether investing in neighborhood resources to improve food access during pregnancy would promote equitable birth outcomes.

Family Medicine Clinician Screening and Barriers to Communication on Food Insecurity: A CERA General Membership Survey

PURPOSE

Food insecurity (FI) is a hidden epidemic associated with worsening health outcomes affecting 33.8 million people in the US in 2021. Although studies demonstrate the importance of health care clinician assessment of a patient's food insecurity, little is known about whether Family Medicine clinicians (FMC) discuss FI with patients and what barriers influence their ability to communicate about FI. This study evaluated FM clinicians' food insecurity screening practices to evaluate screening disparities and identify barriers that influence the decision to communicate about FI.

METHODS

Data were gathered and analyzed as part of the 2022 Council of Academic Family Medicine's Educational Research Alliance survey of Family Medicine general membership.

RESULTS

The majority of respondents reported (66.9%) that their practice has a screening system for food insecurity, and most practices used a verbal screen with staff other than the clinician (41%) at specific visits (63.8%). Clinicians reported "rarely or never asking about FI" 40% of the time and only asking "always or frequently" 6.7% of the time. Inadequate time during appointments (44.5%) and other medical issues taking priority (29.4%) were identified as the most common barriers. The lack of resources available in the community was a significant barrier for clinicians who worked in rural areas.

CONCLUSIONS

This survey provides insight into food insecurity screening disparities and identifies obstacles to FMC screening, such as time constraints, lack of resources, and knowledge of available resources. Understanding current communication practices could create opportunities for interventions to identify food insecurity and impact "Food as Medicine."

Patterns in Food Insecurity During Pregnancy, 2004 to 2020

This survey study assesses patterns in food insecurity during pregnancy among individuals in 14 US states participating in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from 2004 to 2020.

Neighborhood Food Environment and Birth Weight Outcomes in New York City

Importance

Infants born with unhealthy birth weight are at greater risk for long-term health complications, but little is known about how neighborhood characteristics (eg, walkability, food environment) may affect birth weight outcomes.

Objective

To assess whether neighborhood-level characteristics (poverty rate, food environment, and walkability) are associated with risk of unhealthy birth weight outcomes and to evaluate whether gestational weight gain mediated these associations.

Design, Setting, and Participants

The population-based cross-sectional study included births in the 2015 vital statistics records from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Only singleton births and observations with complete birth weight and covariate data were included. Analyses were performed from November 2021 to March 2022.

Exposures

Residential neighborhood-level characteristics, including poverty, food environment (healthy and unhealthy food retail establishments), and walkability (measured by both walkable destinations and a neighborhood walkability index combining walkability measures like street intersection and transit stop density). Neighborhood-level variables categorized into quartiles.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The main outcomes were birth certificate birth weight measures including small for gestational age (SGA), large for gestational age (LGA), and sex-specific birth weight for gestational age z-score. Generalized linear mixed-effects models and hierarchical linear models estimated risk ratios for associations between density of neighborhood-level characteristics within a 1-km buffer of residential census block centroid and birth weight outcomes.

Results

The study included 106 194 births in New York City. The mean (SD) age of pregnant individuals in the sample was 29.9 (6.1) years. Prevalence of SGA and LGA were 12.9% and 8.4%, respectively. Residence in the highest density quartile of healthy food retail establishments compared with the lowest quartile was associated with lower adjusted risk of SGA (with adjustment for individual covariates including gestational weight gain z-score: risk ratio [RR], 0.89; 95% CI 0.83-0.97). Higher neighborhood density of unhealthy food retail establishments was associated with higher adjusted risk of delivering an infant classified as SGA (fourth vs first quartile: RR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.24). The RR for the association between density of unhealthy food retail establishments and risk of LGA was higher after adjustment for all covariates in each quartile compared with quartile 1 (second: RR, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.04-1.20]; third: RR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.08-1.29]; fourth: RR, 1.16; [95% CI, 1.04-1.29]). There were no associations between neighborhood walkability and birth weight outcomes (SGA for fourth vs first quartile: RR, 1.01 [95% CI, 0.94-1.08]; LGA for fourth vs first quartile: RR, 1.06 [95% CI, 0.98-1.14]).

Conclusions and Relevance

In this population-based cross-sectional study, healthfulness of neighborhood food environments was associated with risk of SGA and LGA. The findings support use of urban design and planning guidelines to improve food environments to support healthy pregnancies and birth weight.

Neighbourhood walkability is associated with risk of gestational diabetes: A cross-sectional study in New York City

BACKGROUND

Despite the links between neighbourhood walkability and physical activity, body size and risk of diabetes, there are few studies of neighbourhood walkability and risk of gestational diabetes (GD).

OBJECTIVES

Assess whether higher neighbourhood walkability is associated with lower risk of GD in New York City (NYC).

METHODS

Cross-sectional analyses of a neighbourhood walkability index (NWI) score and density of walkable destinations (DWD) and risk of GD in 109,863 births recorded in NYC in 2015. NWI and DWD were measured for the land area of 1 km radius circles around the geographic centroid of each Census block of residence. Mixed generalised linear models, with robust standard error estimation and random intercepts for NYC Community Districts, were used to estimate risk ratios for GD for increasing quartiles of each of the neighbourhood walkability measures after adjustment for the pregnant individual's age, race and ethnicity, parity, education, nativity, and marital status and the neighbourhood poverty rate.

RESULTS

Overall, 7.5% of pregnant individuals experienced GD. Risk of GD decreased across increasing quartiles of NWI, with an adjusted risk ratio of 0.81 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.75, 0.87) comparing those living in areas in the 4th quartile of NWI to those in the first quartile. Similarly, for comparisons of the 4th to 1st quartile of DWD, the adjusted risk ratio for GD was 0.77 (95% CI 0.71, 0.84).

CONCLUSIONS

These analyses find support for the hypothesis that higher neighbourhood walkability is associated with a lower risk of GD. The analyses provide further health related support for urban design policies to increase walkability.

U.S. Nutrition Assistance Program Participation and Childhood Obesity: The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study 2011

INTRODUCTION

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; Free/Reduced Priced Lunch Program; and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children reduce food insecurity for millions of Americans with lower incomes. However, critics have questioned whether they increase obesity. This study examined whether program participation was associated with BMI z-score from kindergarten to fifth grade.

METHODS

Data from 4,457 primary-grade students whose household incomes were equal to or below 200% of the federal poverty level from kindergarten to fifth grade as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010‒2011 were analyzed. Marginal structural models with inverse probability of treatment/censoring weights were used to estimate associations between Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Free and Reduced Priced Lunch participation over time and fifth-grade BMI z-score, accounting for lost-to-follow-up and time-varying confounders. Weighted generalized estimating equations were used to examine associations between Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children participation and BMI z-score trends. All analyses incorporated sampling weights. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010‒2011 data were collected from 2010-2016; analyses were conducted in 2021 and 2022.

RESULTS

At baseline, 2,419 (54.3%) respondents participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, 3,993 (89.6%) participated in Free/Reduced Priced Lunch, and 3,755 (84.2%) reported past participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. No associations were found between any program and fifth-grade BMI z-score or between Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children participation and BMI z-score trend.

CONCLUSIONS

Previous findings of relationships between program participation and BMI may have been because of weaker study designs and uncontrolled confounding. Participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; Free/Reduced Priced Lunch; and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children was not associated with increased risk of childhood obesity in this recently conducted longitudinal study.

Estimates of the Nutritional Impact of Non-Participation in the National School Lunch Program during COVID-19 School Closures

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in widespread school closures, reducing access to school meals for millions of students previously participating in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National School Lunch Program (NSLP). School-prepared meals are, on average, more nutritious than home-prepared meals. In the absence of recent data measuring changes in children's diets during the pandemic, this article aims to provide conservative, back-of-the-envelope estimates of the nutritional impacts of the pandemic for school-aged children in the United States. We used administrative data from the USDA on the number of NSLP lunches served in 2019 and 2020 and nationally representative data from the USDA School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study on the quality of school-prepared and home-prepared lunches. We estimate changes in lunchtime calories and nutrients consumed by NSLP participants from March to November 2020, compared to the same months in 2019. We estimate that an NSLP participant receiving no school meals would increase their caloric consumption by 640 calories per week and reduce their consumption of nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D. Because 27 to 78 million fewer lunches were served per week in March-November 2020 compared to the previous year, nationally, students may have consumed 3 to 10 billion additional calories per week. As students return to school, it is vital to increase school meal participation and update nutrition policies to address potentially widening nutrition disparities.

Gestational weight change and childhood body composition trajectories from pregnancy to early adolescence

OBJECTIVE

A mother-child dyad trajectory model of weight and body composition spanning from conception to adolescence was developed to understand how early life exposures shape childhood body composition.

METHODS

African American (49.3%) and Dominican (50.7%) pregnant mothers (n = 337) were enrolled during pregnancy, and their children (47.5% female) were followed from ages 5 to 14. Gestational weight gain (GWG) was abstracted from medical records. Child weight, height, percentage body fat, and waist circumference were measured. GWG and child body composition trajectories were jointly modeled with a flexible latent class model with a class membership component that included prepregnancy BMI.

RESULTS

Four prenatal and child body composition trajectory patterns were identified, and sex-specific patterns were observed for the joint GWG-postnatal body composition trajectories with more distinct patterns among girls but not boys. Girls of mothers with high GWG across gestation had the highest BMI z score, waist circumference, and percentage body fat trajectories from ages 5 to 14; however, boys in this high GWG group did not show similar growth patterns.

CONCLUSIONS

Jointly modeled prenatal weight and child body composition trajectories showed sex-specific patterns. Growth patterns from childhood though early adolescence appeared to be more profoundly affected by higher GWG patterns in females, suggesting sex differences in developmental programming.

Neighborhood walkability and poverty predict excessive gestational weight gain: A cross-sectional study in New York City

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated associations between neighborhood-level characteristics and gestational weight gain (GWG) in a population-level study of 2015 New York City births.

METHODS

Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for associations between neighborhood-level characteristics (poverty, food environment, walkability) within 1 km of a residential Census block centroid and excessive or inadequate GWG compared with recommended GWG. All models were adjusted for individual-level sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

Among the sample of 106,285 births, 41.8% had excessive GWG, and 26.3% had inadequate GWG. Residence in the highest versus lowest quartile of neighborhood poverty was associated with greater odds of excessive GWG (OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.08-1.26). Residence in neighborhoods in the quartile of highest walkability compared with the quartile of lowest walkability was associated with lower odds of excessive GWG (OR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.81-0.93). Adjustment for prepregnancy BMI attenuated the associations for neighborhood poverty, but not for walkability. Neighborhood variables were not associated with inadequate GWG.

CONCLUSIONS

These analyses indicate that greater neighborhood walkability is associated with lower odds of excessive GWG, potentially from differences in pedestrian activity during pregnancy. This research provides further evidence for using urban design to support healthy weight status during pregnancy.

School Closures During COVID-19: Opportunities for Innovation in Meal Service

In 2019, the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program served approximately 15 million breakfasts and 30 million lunches daily at low or no cost to students.Access to these meals has been disrupted as a result of long-term school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially decreasing both student nutrient intake and household food security. By the week of March 23, 2020, all states had mandated statewide school closures as a result of the pandemic, and the number of weekly missed breakfasts and lunches served at school reached a peak of approximately 169.6 million; this weekly estimate remained steady through the final week of April.We highlight strategies that states and school districts are using to replace these missed meals, including a case study from Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture waivers that, in many cases, have introduced flexibility to allow for innovation. Also, we explore lessons learned from the pandemic with the goal of informing and strengthening future school nutrition policies for out-of-school time, such as over the summer.

SNAP judgments into the digital age: Reporting on food stamps varies significantly with time, publication type, and political leaning

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the second-largest and most contentious public assistance program administered by the United States government. The media forums where SNAP discourse occurs have changed with the advent of social and web-based media. We used machine learning techniques to characterize media coverage of SNAP over time (1990–2017), between outlets with national readership and those with narrower scopes, and, for a subset of web-based media, by the outlet’s political leaning. We applied structural topic models, a machine learning methodology that categorizes and summarizes large bodies of text that have document-level covariates or metadata, to a corpus of print media retrieved via LexisNexis (n = 76,634). For comparison, we complied a separate corpus via web-scrape algorithm of the Google News API (2012–2017), and assigned political alignment metadata to a subset documents according to a recent study of partisanship on social media. A similar procedure was used on a subset of the print media documents that could be matched to the same alignment index. Using linear regression models, we found some, but not all, topics to vary significantly with time, between large and small media outlets, and by political leaning. Our findings offer insights into the polarized and partisan nature of a major social welfare program in the United States, and the possible effects of new media environments on the state of this discourse.