Jeffrey Roth, PhD¹, Samuel Wu, PhD², Edward A. Feaver, MDiv³, Steven B. Morse, MD, MPH¹, Jie Yang, MS², and Michael B. Resnick, EdD¹. (1) Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, PO Box 100296, Gainesville, FL 32610-0296, (2) Department of Statistics, University of Florida, Box 100212, Gainesville, FL 32610-0212, 352.392.8446, jieyang@biostat.ufl.edu, (3) Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, University of South Florida, 1310 Cross Creek Circle, Suite C, Tallahassee, FL 32301

Approximately 45% of pregnant women who deliver in Florida hospitals receive Medicaid-funded prenatal services. Within this group of Medicaid pregnant women, approximately three-quarters participate in WIC (Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children).

Our objective was to determine the effect of maternal participation in WIC on six birth outcomes among women who receive Medicaid-funded prenatal services.

Study participants were 295,599 matched mother-infant pairs who received Medicaid-funded prenatal services and who delivered in Florida hospitals from January 1, 1996 to December 31, 2000. Six birth outcomes were analyzed: 1) Neonatal Mortality, 2) Postneonatal Mortality, 3) Infant Mortality, 4) Low Birth Weight, 5) Very Low Birth Weight, and 6) Birth Defect. Generalized linear models were fitted using the GENMOD Procedure of SAS.

We found that compared with infants whose mothers did not participate in the WIC program, infants whose mothers did participate in WIC had lower neonatal mortality (RR 0.50, 99% CI 0.38-0.66), lower postnatal mortality (RR 0.67, 99% CI 0.45-0.99); lower infant mortality (RR 0.59, 99% CI 0.39-0.92), lower rates of low birth weight (RR 0.77, 99% CI 0.72-0.81), and lower rates of very low birth weight (RR 0.45, 99% CI 0.39-0.53). Birth defect rates did not differ among Medicaid women who did and did not participate in WIC.

We conclude that WIC participation appeared to confer a protective effect on five important birth outcomes, after controlling for 12 potentially confounding risk factors. Therefore, additional efforts should be made to enroll the remaining one-quarter of eligible low-income pregnant women who do not participate in this worthwhile supplemental nutrition and education program.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify five beneficial effects of pregnant women's participation in WIC.
• Assess the consequences of prenatal nutrition.
• Prioritize efforts to enroll more low income pregnant women in WIC's supplemental nutrition and education program.

Keywords: Birth Outcomes, Pregnancy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.