Hunger in Midwestern Inner-city Young Children

Abstract

To determine the characteristics of hunger in young children who attend ambulatory pediatric clinics in a midwestern city. Design: Consecutive sample. Setting: Ambulatory pediatric clinics of an inner-city teaching hospital. Participants: English-speaking caregivers of 2578 children younger than 5 years. Main Outcome Measure: Structured survey measures of hunger, family characteristics, assistance program use, child feeding practices, and anthropometrics. Results: In this population, 171 (6.6%) were hungry, and 842 (32.7%) were at risk for hunger. Hunger status was associated with increased age (PϽ.001), decreased maternal education level (P = .013), maternal nonwhite race (PϽ.002), a history of homelessness (PϽ.001), and parental unemployment (PϽ.001). Hunger status was associated with use of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (PϽ.001) and food stamps (PϽ.001) but not with participation in The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Results of anthropometrics indicated that mean growth percentiles were no different between hunger categories. Conclusions: Housing, dietary, and family characteristics are identifiable risk factors for early childhood hunger. Hunger cannot be identified, however, using anthropometrics. It is disconcerting that fewer hungry children and children at risk for hunger participate in WIC compared with other programs. These data suggest the potential for more aggressive identification and intervention at the primary care and social service levels to benefit hungry children.

Maternal knowledge of nutrition, problem‐solving abilities and the introduction of complementary foods into infants’ diets

“…In particular, children living in poverty are at increased risk for improper nutrition (Korenman & Miller, 1997;Olson, 1999), hunger (Alaimo et al, 1998;Cutts et al, 1998;Olson, 1999), stunting of growth (Korenman & Miller, 1997) and obesity (Strauss & Knight, 1999). Furthermore, ethnic minority children are at increased risk for being overweight than are Caucasian children (Hedley et al, 2004).…”

Child Food Insecurity Increases Risks Posed by Household Food Insecurity to Young Children’s Health

“…Food insecurity (FI) has been associated with inadequate intake of several important nutrients (1,2), cognitive developmental deficits (3)(4)(5), behavioral and psychosocial dysfunction in children and adults (6,7), and poor health in children and adults (8)(9)(10)(11). Inability to purchase enough nutritious food and the resultant emotional or psychological stresses can contribute to adverse health effects or exacerbate poor health caused by other factors (12)(13)(14)(15).…”

The Prevalence and Effects of Hunger in an Emergency Department Patient Population

“…4 A pediatric study at the same institution found the prevalence of hunger to be 6.6%, with a further 32.7% of patients at risk for hunger. 5 Although the adult study was initiated because of a finding of adverse health outcomes among diabetic patients who experienced hunger or food insecurity, it was not designed to examine the relationship between reductions in food stamps and poorer health out- comes. In addition, to our knowledge, no recent study has attempted to document the prevalence or effects of hunger and food insecurity on an ED patient population.…”