Savannah Busch is with the College of Medicine and the Fay W Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock. Jennifer A. Andersen, Pearl A. McElfish, and Don E. Willis are with the College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest, Springdale. Sharon Reece is with the Baylor Scott & White Health and Baylor College of Medicine, Temple, TX. Dominique DuBois is with the College of Nursing, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock. Clare C. Brown is with the Fay W Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.
Am J Public Health. 2023 Dec;113(S3):S240-S247. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2023.307525.
To evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) receipt among pregnant individuals overall and by race/ethnicity. We measured changes in WIC receipt among Medicaid-covered births (n = 10 484 697) from the US National Center for Health Statistics Natality Files (2016-2022). Our interrupted time series logistic model included a continuous monthly variable, a binary post-COVID variable, and a continuous slope shift variable. We additionally fit separate models for each race/ethnicity relative to White individuals, using interaction terms between the time series variables and race/ethnicity. We found decreases in WIC receipt (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.899; < .001) from before COVID (66.6%) to after COVID (57.9%). There were larger post-COVID decreases for American Indian/Alaska Native (AOR = 0.850; < .001), Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (AOR = 0.877; = .003), Black (AOR = 0.974; < .001), and Hispanic (AOR = 0.972, < .001) individuals relative to White individuals. The greater reductions in WIC receipt among minoritized individuals highlights a pathway through which the pandemic may have widened gaps in already disparate maternal and infant health. Continued efforts to increase WIC utilization are needed overall and among minoritized populations. (. 2023;113(S3):S240-S247. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307525).
评估 COVID-19 对特殊补充营养计划妇女、婴儿和儿童（WIC）接受者的总体和按种族/族裔的影响。我们测量了美国国家卫生统计中心生育档案（2016-2022 年）中 Medicaid 覆盖出生（n=10,484,697）中 WIC 接受情况的变化。我们的中断时间序列逻辑模型包括一个连续的每月变量、一个 COVID 后二值变量和一个连续斜率变化变量。我们还为每个种族/族裔相对于白人个体拟合了单独的模型，使用时间序列变量和种族/族裔之间的交互项。我们发现 WIC 接受率下降（调整后的优势比 [AOR]=0.899；<.001），从 COVID 前（66.6%）到 COVID 后（57.9%）。美国印第安人/阿拉斯加原住民（AOR=0.850；<.001）、夏威夷原住民/其他太平洋岛民（AOR=0.877；=.003）、黑人（AOR=0.974；<.001）和西班牙裔（AOR=0.972，<.001）个体的 COVID 后降幅更大。少数族裔个体的 WIC 接受率下降幅度更大，这突显了大流行可能扩大已经存在的母婴健康差距的途径。需要继续努力提高 WIC 的利用率，包括总体和少数族裔人群。（. 2023；113(S3):S240-S247. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307525）。
