Premium
Episodes of Food Insecurity and Linear Growth in Childhood: A Prospective Cohort Study
Author(s) -
Zhu Yeyi,
Mangini Lauren D,
Dong Yongquan,
Forman Michele
Publication year - 2017
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.31.1_supplement.297.1
Subject(s) - anthropometry , food insecurity , food security , demography , medicine , cohort , cohort study , prospective cohort study , environmental health , early childhood , linear growth , public health , pediatrics , geography , psychology , developmental psychology , surgery , mathematics , archaeology , nursing , pathology , sociology , agriculture
Objective Food insecurity prevalence continues to represent a major public health concern in the U.S. A preponderance of evidence has linked food insecurity to childhood morbidity and poor development, yet its association with linear growth in childhood, a period of rapid human growth, remains poorly understood. We aimed to examine the association between household food insecurity and linear growth trajectory from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Methods In the prospective Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten cohort (1998–2007), 5,979 children with complete data on anthropometrics, household food insecurity, and other major socio‐demographic variables at four study waves (spring of kindergarten and third, fifth, and eighth grades) were included. At each wave, household food insecurity was assessed by the validated USDA 18‐item module and anthropometrics were obtained to calculate age‐ and sex‐specific height‐for‐age z‐scores (HAZ). HAZ by sex and food security status (yes vs. no) was examined at each wave. Further, linear mixed‐effects models for repeated measures were fitted to compare HAZ trajectories across number of food insecurity episodes (i.e., 0, 1, 2, ≥3) over the study period. Results At each wave, food insecure girls compared to their food secure counterparts were significantly taller at fifth grade but shorter with a marginal significance at eighth grade ( P = 0.03 and 0.07, respectively), whereas mean HAZ among boys did not differ by food security status. After adjusting for major sociodemographic variables and child's birthweight, mean HAZ of girls in the food insecurity ≥3 times group was 0.81 SD (95% confidence interval: −1.44, −0.18) lower than HAZ of always food secure girls at kindergarten. From kindergarten through eighth grade, HAZ of girls in the food insecurity ≥3 times group exhibited catch‐up growth after kindergarten with a rate of 0.22 SD/year (95% confidence interval: 0.1, 0.35) on average faster than their always food secure counterparts. HAZ trajectory among boys did not vary by number of food insecurity episodes over the study period, after adjusting for major covariates. Conclusions Childhood linear growth trajectory varied by sex and number of household food insecurity episodes. Findings highlight that school‐aged girls were particularly vulnerable to household food insecurity, with a linear growth trajectory characterized by height deficits at eighth grade despite catch‐up growth between kindergarten and fifth grade.