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 [ß -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.

Cost effectiveness of vitamin c supplementation for pregnant smokers to improve offspring lung function at birth and reduce childhood wheeze/asthma.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the implications of supplemental vitamin C for pregnant tobacco smokers and its effects on the prevalence of pediatric asthma, asthma-related mortality, and associated costs. STUDY DESIGN: A decision-analytic model built via TreeAge compared the outcome of asthma in a theoretical annual cohort of 480,000 children born to pregnant smokers through 18 years of life. Vitamin C supplementation (500 mg/day) with a standard prenatal vitamin was compared to a prenatal vitamin (60 mg/day). Model inputs were derived from the literature. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses assessed the impact of assumptions. RESULT: Additional vitamin C during pregnancy would prevent 1637 cases of asthma at the age of 18 per birth cohort of pregnant smokers. Vitamin C would reduce asthma-related childhood deaths and save $31,420,800 in societal costs over 18 years per birth cohort. CONCLUSION: Vitamin C supplementation in pregnant smokers is a safe and inexpensive intervention that may reduce the economic burden of pediatric asthma.