Co-enrollment for Child Health: How Receipt and Loss of Food and Housing Subsidies Relate to Housing Security and Statutes for Streamlined, Multi-Subsidy Application

We hypothesized that children living in households eligible for federal food and/or housing assistance and receiving these benefits have higher odds of being housing secure than children in households that are eligible for but not receiving food and/or housing benefits, after controlling for potential confounding factors. Additionally, children living in households that have lost housing […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by

Homelessness During Pregnancy: A Unique, Time-Dependent Risk Factor of Birth Outcomes

This article evaluates homelessness during pregnancy as a unique, time-dependent risk factor for adverse birth outcomes. Prenatal homelessness was associated with higher adjusted odds of low birth weight and preterm delivery, and lower adjusted mean birth weight. Postnatal homelessness was not associated with these outcomes. Prenatal homelessness is an independent risk factor for low birth weight, rather than merely a marker of adverse […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by

Food Insecurity among Children in Massachusetts

This article focuses on the prevalence among Massachusetts children and families of food insecurity, inadequate access to enough nutritious food for an active and healthy life.

Read more
/0 Comments/by

SNAP Cuts Will Harm Children in the USA

Children’s HealthWatch researchers wrote a commentary providing a pediatric research-based opinion on the negative effect of cuts to the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP).

Read more
/0 Comments/by

Health of Children Classified as Underweight by CDC Reference but Normal by WHO Standard

The objective of this article was to ascertain measures of health status among 6- to 24-month-old children classified as below normal weight-for-age (underweight) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2000 growth reference but as normal weight-for-age by the World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 standard. The authors found that children who are reclassified from underweight to normal […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by

Are Food Insecurity’s Health Impacts Underestimated in the U.S. Population? Marginal Food Insecurity Also Predicts Adverse Health Outcomes in U.S. Children and Mothers.

This review addresses epidemiological, public health, and social policy implications of categorizing young children and their adult female caregivers in the United States as food secure when they live in households with “marginal food security,” as indicated by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. Existing literature shows that households in the US with marginal food security […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by

WIC Participation and Attenuation of Stress-Related Child Health Risks of Household Food Insecurity and Caregiver Depressive Symptoms

This article examined how family stressors relate to child health and how participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), attenuated health risks. In a sample of 26,950 WIC eligible caregivers with young children, the authors found that as stressors increased the odds of child fair/poor health, hospitalizations and developmental […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by

Household Hardships, Public Programs, and Their Association with the Health and Development of Very Young Children: Insights from Children’s HealthWatch

Many research and advocacy groups use econometrics and/or biostatistics to explore the health and educational effects of food insecurity. Children’s HealthWatch (formerly known as the Children’s Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program or C-SNAP) is one such group. Children’s HealthWatch was founded in 1998 to bring evidence and analysis from the front lines of pediatric care to policy […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by

US Housing Insecurity and the Health of Very Young Children

This article investigated the association between housing insecurity and the health of very young children. Housing insecurity indicators were defined as crowded (>2 people/bedroom or >1 family/residence) and multiple moves (≥ 2 moves within the previous year).  Crowding and multiple moves was associated with household and child food security and the multiple moves indicator was […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by

Cumulative Hardship and Wellness of Low-Income, Young Children: Multisite Surveillance Study

This article shows that the level of a novel cumulative index of 3 prevalent hardships (food, housing, and energy insecurity) is a robust predictor of the health and development of children 4 to 36 months of age. In a sample size of 7,141 participants, 37% reported no material hardship, 57% moderate hardship, and 6% severe […]

Read more
/0 Comments/by