US Housing Insecurity and the Health of Very Young Children

TLDR

The study examined how housing insecurity relates to health outcomes in children under three. Data were collected from 22,069 low‑income caregivers in seven U.S. urban medical centers, measuring food insecurity, child health, developmental risk, weight, and housing insecurity defined by crowding and frequent moves.

Abstract

We investigated the association between housing insecurity and the health of very young children.Between 1998 and 2007, we interviewed 22,069 low-income caregivers with children younger than 3 years who were seen in 7 US urban medical centers. We assessed food insecurity, child health status, developmental risk, weight, and housing insecurity for each child's household. Our indicators for housing insecurity were crowding (> 2 people/bedroom or>1 family/residence) and multiple moves (≥ 2 moves within the previous year).After adjusting for covariates, crowding was associated with household food insecurity compared with the securely housed (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.30; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.18, 1.43), as were multiple moves (AOR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.59, 2.28). Crowding was also associated with child food insecurity (AOR = 1.47; 95% CI = 1.34, 1.63), and so were multiple moves (AOR = 2.56; 95% CI = 2.13, 3.08). Multiple moves were associated with fair or poor child health (AOR = 1.48; 95% CI =1.25, 1.76), developmental risk (AOR 1.71; 95% CI = 1.33, 2.21), and lower weight-for-age z scores (-0.082 vs -0.013; P= .02).Housing insecurity is associated with poor health, lower weight, and developmental risk among young children. Policies that decrease housing insecurity can promote the health of young children and should be a priority.