(285) Impact of WIC benefits on perinatal outcomes among pregnant patients with low prenatal care utilization

This is a retrospective study using national vital statistics data from the Center for Disease Control (2012-2018). We compared perinatal outcomes between those with WIC benefits and those without WIC benefits among pregnant patients with low prenatal care utilization ( < 5 prenatal visits). We used singleton, non-anomalous deliveries of gestational age 23-42 weeks. Outcomes were preterm delivery (PTD), APGAR score < 7 at 5 minutes, small for gestational age (SGA), NICU admission, neonatal assisted ventilation, and neonatal seizures using Chi-square analyses. We performed multivariable logistic regression to control for age, race/ethnicity, education, and insurance status (private vs public).

Results:

We identified 1,362,109 individuals with < 5 prenatal visits, of which 637,051 (46.77%) patients had WIC benefits and 725,057 (53.23%) patients did not have WIC benefits. On multivariable regression, those with WIC benefits had lower odds of PTD (aOR 0.84, CI 0.83-0.85), APGAR score < 7 (aOR 0.86, CI 0.84-0.88), NICU admission (aOR 0.82, CI 0.81-0.83), neonatal ventilation support (aOR 0.83, CI 0.82-0.85), or neonatal seizures (aOR 0.61, CI 0.51-0.73). Those with WIC benefits were more likely to have SGA infants (aOR 1.03, CI 1.02-1.05).

Conclusion:

In our cohort of pregnant patients with low prenatal care, those with WIC benefits were less likely to experience adverse perinatal outcomes compared to those without WIC benefits. WIC participants had a greater proportion of SGA infants, highlighting health disparities likely experienced by this population including food insecurity. Our results indicate that in the setting of limited preventive prenatal care, connection to resources and social support through WIC may be associated with some protective effect against adverse outcomes. There is potential benefit to identifying patients with low follow-up in pregnancy and providing connection to social programs such as WIC.