Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40168835›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2025

Impact of the 2009 WIC revision on infant and maternal health: A quasi-experimental multi-state study.

Guangyi Wang, Marianne Bitler, Dean Schillinger, Martin Halla, Steven Stillman, Rita Hamad

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Guangyi WangDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address: guangyi.wang@ucsf.edu.
Marianne BitlerDepartment of Economics, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA; National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Dean SchillingerDivision of General Internal Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, University of California San Francisco, California, USA.
Martin HallaVienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria; Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO), Vienna, Austria; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany.
Steven StillmanInstitute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany; Free University Bozen, Bolzano, Italy; CESifo Network, Germany.
Rita HamadDepartment of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.

Funding

Translational Research Core - Health Engagement & Action Translational (HEAT)P30DK092924 · NIDDK · KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE · PI Alyce Sophia Adams, HILARY Kessler SELIGMAN · 2011 to 2026
$9.2M
NCCDPHP CDC HHS U18 DP006526NIDDK NIH HHS P30 DK092924
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Improving food security and dietary quality during pregnancy is vital for maternal and infant health. Poor nutrition can lead to adverse fetal development and complications for women. In 2009, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC), a US safety net program for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding or postpartum women and young children, was revised to improve dietary quality, promoting intake of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Prior studies found the revision improved dietary quality, but its impact on downstream health is less understood. We analyzed 2008-2012 national birth certificate data (N = 11,855,417) and employed a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences analysis to examine pre-post trends in outcomes among women predicted to be to be eligible for WIC (treatment group) while "differencing" out pre-post trends among predicted WIC-ineligible women (control group). Outcomes include infant birth weight and size for gestational age, and maternal gestational-diabetes-mellitus (GDM) and gestational-weight gain (GWG). The 2009 WIC revision was associated with small reductions in birth weight (-3.52 g; 95 %CI, -4.75 to -2.30) and small-for-gestational-age (-0.08 % points; 95 %CI, -0.15, -0.01), and GWG (-0.05 pounds; 95 %CI, -0.09, -0.02). While the results were robust to most sensitivity tests, they were not for some and therefore should be interpreted cautiously. Disparities emerged in the impact on GDM and GWG across subgroups. The limited evidence of positive effects on infant and maternal health underscores the need for ongoing research to better understand the impact of the 2019 WIC revision, including implementation factors and program design, on downstream health.

Indexed as

Food AssistanceInfant HealthMaternal HealthAdultFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornPregnancyUnited States

Identifiers

PMID40168835
PMCPMC12078192

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.