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The Association between Increased Economic Resources and Birth Weight Among Native Americans in California: A Natural Experiment
Author(s) -
JonesSmith Jessica,
Dow Will,
Oddo Vanessa
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.902.26
Subject(s) - demography , body mass index , overweight , gestational age , obesity , medicine , per capita , population , percentile , birth weight , gerontology , pregnancy , geography , environmental health , biology , statistics , sociology , genetics , mathematics
Background Native American‐owned casinos have been associated with increased economic resources and decreased risk for childhood overweight/obesity among Native Americans. Objective We test whether casinos are associated with large‐ for‐gestational age (LGA) (>90 th percentile compared to sex‐and‐gestational‐age‐specific reference population values). Secondary analyses examined the relationship between casinos and excessive gestational weight gain and maternal pre‐pregnancy body mass index (BMI). Methods Data came from California birth records and included 23,237 births (between 1987 to 2011) to Native American women living near tribal lands. Casino presence and size was indicated by the number of slot machines per Native American living on tribal lands in each zip code in each year ('slots per capita'). Zip code‐fixed‐effects linear and linear probability regression models compared communities to themselves over time, before and after the opening/expansion of casinos, to estimate the relationships between casino openings/expansions and LGA, excessive gestational weight gain, and maternal BMI. Results Opening or expanding a casino was associated with a decreased risk of LGA (b slotspercapita = ‐0.0061 (95% CI: ‐0.0095, ‐0.0027); b slotspercapita_squared = 0.00009 (95% CI: 0.000037, 0.00015), and with lower maternal BMI (b= ‐0.12 (95%CI: ‐0.19, ‐0.04), but was not associated with excessive gestational weight gain (b= 0.001 (95%CI: ‐0.006, 0.008). Conclusions Economic resources from Native American casinos are associated with decreased risk for LGA and decreased maternal BMI among Native Americans.