The Impact of WIC on Infant Immunizations and Health Care Utilization

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Nutrition Science

Background:

• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides nutritional support to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum individuals, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.
• Understanding the impact of prenatal WIC participation on infant health care utilization is crucial for assessing program effectiveness and informing public health policy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of prenatal WIC participation on infant health care utilization and immunization rates within the first year of life.

Main Methods:

• Utilized South Carolina Medicaid claims and birth certificate data (2004-2013).
• Employed a maternal fixed-effects empirical design to control for unobserved confounding factors.
• Analyzed WIC participation and health care utilization (well-child visits, vaccinations, emergency room visits, hospitalizations) in the first year of infant life.

Main Results:

• Prenatal WIC participation was associated with an increase of 0.20 well-child visits and 0.22 vaccinations per infant.
• WIC participation increased the probability of an emergency room visit by 2.9 percentage points.
• WIC participation decreased the average number of infant hospital days by 0.41 days in the first year of life.

Conclusions:

• Prenatal WIC participation influences infant health care utilization across various dimensions, including increased outpatient and emergency visits, alongside reduced hospitalizations.
• The findings suggest a complex impact on healthcare costs, necessitating further research to fully ascertain the program's long-term economic implications.