Estimating Eligibility and Participation for the WIC Program Final Report (2003) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
6. Estimation of the Number of Income-Eligible Pregnant and Postpartum Women
6. Estimation of the Number of Income-Eligible Pregnant and Postpartum Women
Pages 68-82
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 68... ...
This chapter reviews several ofthe adjustment procedures and assumptions currently used to estimate the number of income-eligible pregnant and postpartum women based on the number of income-eligible infants. Assumptions about multiple births and fetal and infant deaths, about income during the time before and after a child is born, and about breastfeeding rates are reviewed.
|
From page 69... ...
Assumptions Regarding Fetal and Infant Deaths and Multiple Births The current USDA estimation methodology assumes that the number of fetal and infant deaths and the number of multiple births cancel each other out. On one hand, using the number of infants to estimate the number of pregnant women without accounting for fetal and infant deaths would understate the number of pregnant women.
|
From page 70... ...
However, we can repeat the analysis above for blacks, who on average are from lower income households and for whom infant mortality is higher than for whites. In 2000 in the United States there were 10,700 second- or higher-order multiple births and 8,500 infant deaths for blacks.
|
From page 71... ...
The method assumes that the number of income-eligible pregnant women is equal to 75 percent of the number of income-eligible infants. Variation in family income around the birth of a child was raised as a possible flaw in the current USDA estimation methodology (USDA, 1999a)
|
From page 72... ...
They can demonstrate the importance of measuring income on a monthly basis. For example, if an adjustment factor of 0.53 is applied to the 2001 CPS estimates of income-eligible infants, the resulting estimate of the number of income-eligible pregnant women would be 804,000 instead of 1,138,000 which is the number of income-eligible pregnant women that result from multiplying the number of income-eligible infants by 0.75.
|
From page 73... ...
The current method of using the 0.75 adjustment factor to obtain the number of eligible pregnant women based on the number of eligible infants would therefore substantially overstate the number of pregnant women who participate in WIC, but not the number who are eligible for WIC. The assumptions examined in this section must be made because it is not possible to directly identify pregnant women using the CPS.
|
From page 74... ...
Adjustment Factors to Account for Breastfeeding Status Recent Trends in Breastieedting Rates Because the data used to estimate the percentage of breastEeeding women are more than 14 years old, the panel commissioned a paper to examine more current data on breastEeeding rates and duration, review breastSeeding trends and correlates, and review data sources and consider implications for estimating WIC eligibility. This paper, titled Estimating Eligibility for WIC: The Role of Breastieedting Jacknowitz, 2002)
|
From page 75... ...
_ (A m 40 30 20 10 / ~ —~ .' RLMS ~ NSFG O NHAANES · NMIHS 0- ~ 1 ,~9~ ,~9~ ,~9~ ,~9~ ,~9~oO ,~9OO~ ,~9OO~ ,~9Oo~ ,~9Oo~ ,~9OoO° ~99~ ~99~ ~99> ~99~ 99°° case Year FIGURE 6-1 Trends in breastSeeding initiation rates for all mothers (1970-2000~. NOTES: RLMS = Ross Laboratories Mothers Survey (Ryan, 2000~; NSFG = National Survey of Family Growth (NCHS, 1998~; NHANES = National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (Burstein et al., 2000~; NMIHS = National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (Visness and Kennedy, 1997~.
|
From page 76... ...
NOTES: RLMS = Ross Laboratories Mothers Survey (Ryan, 2000~; NHANES = National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (Burstein et al., 2000~; NMIHS = National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (Visness and Kennedy, 1997~; NSWP = National Survey of WIC Participants and Their Local Agencies (Cole et al., 2001~; WIC-IFP S= WIC Infant Feeding Practices Survey (Baydar et al., 1997~. The vertical line marks the year of data collection for data used in the current ENS method.
|
From page 77... ...
m 10 ~ WIC mothers O - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 .~9~ ~9~ ~99~ ~99` ~99~ ~99~ 99> 99~ 99~ 9~ 99~ 999 Year FIGURE 6-3 Trends in breastSeeding rates 6 moths after birth for all mothers and WIC mothers, Ross Laboratories Mothers Survey (1988-2000~. Data sources: Ryan et al.
|
From page 78... ...
More recent estimates of breastfeeding status indicate that a greater percentage of postpartum women now breastfeed than in the late 1980s, when the adjustment factors were developed. Updiating Estimates of the Numl7er of Breastieedling Postpartum Women The panel recommends that USDA update breastSeeding adjustment factors using more recent data sources.
|
From page 79... ...
, is produced on a regular basis and collects data on breastEeeding status at different points in the postpartum period (initiation, 1 month postpartum, 2 months postpartum, etc.~. RLMS is designed as a nationally representative sample of mothers with infants up to 12 months old and has a very large sample size (over 400,000 in 20001.
|
From page 80... ...
Adjustment Factors for Infant and Fetal Deaths and Multiple Births If the CPS continues to be used as the base data set from which eligibility estimates for postpartum women are produced, it is reasonable to continue to base these estimates on the number of income-eligible infants. An adjustment for fetal deaths is not needed, since all fetal deaths would already be excluded from the count of infants.
|
From page 81... ...
CONCLUSION: SIPP data allow the direct observation of the number of pregnant and postpartum women and their income, program participation, and living arrangements during the pregnancy and postpartum periods which is a major advantage over CPS data. SUMMARY This chapter has reviewed the methods for estimating the number of income-eligible and adjunctively eligible pregnant and postpartum women.
|
From page 82... ...
imply that women whose infants are eligible for WIC are themselves income eligible or adjunctively eligible for 6.4 months of the 9-month pregnancy period. With regard to the estimation of the number of breastEeeding and nonbreastSeeding postpartum women, the panel concludes that current adjustments used to account for breastEeeding status among postpartum women are out of date they substantially underestimate the number of women who breastSeed and recommends that USDA update these ad~ustments.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.