The Relationship Between Food Insecurity and Low Birthweight Across US Counties and Related Racial Disparities
Marissa A Beldon1, Shondra L Clay2, M Courtney Hughes3
1NCWIT, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA. Marissa.Beldon@Colorado.edu.
Objective:
To explore the relationship between low birthweight (LBW) and food insecurity across US counties and determine whether this relationship differs between Black and White women.
Methods:
LBW data was derived from the 2013-2019 National Center for Health Statistics and National Vital Statistics System Birth Files. Food insecurity data was derived from Feeding America's 2013-2019 Map the Meal Gap project. Analyses included descriptive statistics and regression models.
Results:
Data were available for 3037 US counties. Food insecurity significantly predicted county-level LBW (t(3035) = 44.48, P < .001) and explained 39.46% of the variance in LBW (F(13,035) = 1978.03, P < .001, R = .63). Food insecurity predicted LBW for both Black (t(1418) = 17.39, P < .001) and White women (t(1918) = 18.26, P < .001) and had a slightly larger effect size for Black women with fitted line plots also supporting a stronger relationship for Black women.
Conclusions:
Food insecurity predicts LBW in US counties, and the relationship may be stronger for Black women. Increasing access to healthy food should be considered when planning county-level efforts for improving LBW.
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