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Relationships Between the Great Recession and Widening Maternal and Child Health Disparities: Findings From Washington and Florida.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between the Great Recession in the United States and maternal and child health (MCH) disparities in prenatal care, birth weight, gestational age, and infant mortality. Using annual, 2005-2011 individual-level Washington (WA) and Florida (FL) birth certificate data, we analyzed MCH outcome rates and disparities among subpopulation component groups (e.g., subpopulation 'maternal ethnicity' divided into component groups such as non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black). We focused on whether disparities widened during two recession periods: Period 1 (December 2007-June 2009-official dates of Great Recession) and Period 2 (January 2010-December 2011) and compared these to a Baseline Period 0 (January 2005-March 2007). Subpopulations (n=14) and component groups (n=47) were identified a priori. Results indicate that disparities widened on at least one MCH outcome for 22 component groups in WA during Period 1 and 37 component groups during Period 2, compared to baseline. In FL, disparities widened for 25 component groups during Period 1 and 31 during Period 2. Disparities increased in both periods on the same outcomes for 11 WA component groups and 7 component groups in FL. Disparity increases tended to cluster among those with young age, low education, and among members of minority race/ethnicity groups-particularly Black mothers. Findings support hypothesized relationships between expected increases in need during the Great Recession, and worsening MCH outcomes and disparities. Compared to baseline, there were more disparity increases in Period 2 than 1. Additional research regarding specific factors influencing changes in disparities are needed.

SUBMITTER: Blakeney EA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7423194 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has been shown to have positive effects in promoting healthy birth outcomes in the United States. We explored whether such effects held prior to and during the most recent Great Recession to improve birth outcomes and reduce differences among key socio-demographic groups.MethodsWe used a pooled cross-sectional time series design to study pregnant women and their infants with birth certificate data. We included Medicaid and uninsured births from Washington State and Florida (n?=?226,835) before (01/2005-03/2007) and during (12/2007-06/2009) the Great Recession. Interactions between WIC enrollment and key socio-demographic groupings were analyzed for binary and continuous birth weight outcomes.ResultsOur study found beneficial WIC interaction effects on birth weight. For race, prenatal care, and maternal age we found significantly better birth weight outcomes in the presence of WIC compared to those without WIC. For example, being Black with WIC was associated with an increase in infant birth weight of 53.5?g (baseline) (95% CI?=?32.4, 74.5) and 58.0?g (recession) (95% CI?=?27.8, 88.3). For most groups this beneficial relationship was stable over time.ConclusionsThis paper supports previous research linking maternal utilization of WIC services during pregnancy to improved birth weight (both reducing LBW and increasing infant birth weight in grams) among some high-disadvantage groups. WIC appears to have been beneficial at decreasing disparity gaps in infant birth weight among the very young, Black, and late/no prenatal care enrollees in this high-need population, both before and during the Great Recession. Gaps are still present among other social and demographic characteristic groups (e.g., for unmarried mothers) for whom we did not find WIC to be associated with any detectable value in promoting better birth weight outcomes. Future research needs to examine how WIC (and/or other maternal and child health programs) could be made to work better and reach farther to address persistent disparities in birth weight outcomes. Additionally, in preparation for future economic downturns it will be important to determine how to preserve and, if possible, expand WIC services during times of increased need.Trial registrationNot applicable, this article reports only on secondary retrospective data (no health interventions with human participants were carried out).

Project description:ObjectiveDuring the Great Recession in America, African-Americans opted to forgo healthcare more than other racial/ethnic groups. It is not understood whether disparities in forgone care returned to pre-recession levels. Understanding healthcare utilization patterns is important for informing subsequent efforts to decrease healthcare disparities. Therefore, we examined changes in racial disparities in forgone care before, during, and after the Great Recession.DesignData were pooled from the 2006-2013 National Health Interview Survey. Forgone medical, mental, and prescription care due to affordability were assessed among African-Americans and Whites. Time periods were classified as: pre-recession (May 2006-November 2007), early recession (December 2007-November 2008), late recession (December 2008-May 2010) and post-recession (June 2010-December 2013). Multivariable logistic regressions of race, interacted with time periods, were used to identify disparities in forgone care controlling for other demographics, health insurance coverage, and having a usual place for medical care across time periods. Adjusted Wald tests were performed to identify significant changes in disparities across time periods.ResultsThe sample consisted of 110,746 adults. African-Americans were more likely to forgo medical care during the post- recession compared to Whites (OR = 1.16, CI = 1.06, 1.26); changes in foregone medical care disparities were significant in that they increased in the post-recession period compared to the pre-recession (OR = 1.17, CI = 1.08, 1.28 and OR = 0.89, CI = 0.77, 1.04, respectively, adjusted Wald Test p-value < 0.01). No changes in disparities were seen in prescription and mental forgone care.ConclusionA persistent increase in forgone medical care disparities existed among African-Americans compared to Whites post-Great Recession and may be a result of outstanding issues related to healthcare access, cost, and quality. While health insurance is an important component of access to care, it alone should not be expected to remove these disparities due to other financial constraints. Additional strategies are necessary to close remaining gaps in care widened by the Great Recession.

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Relationships Between the Great Recession and Widening Maternal and Child Health Disparities: Findings From Washington and Florida.

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