Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

3-2025

Publication Title

Pregnancy

Abstract

Objective: Access to healthy and nutritious food is a basic human right, although it has become a critical social determinant of health. Lack of healthy food access has been linked to poorer health outcomes and chronic preventable health conditions, especially in our most vulnerable populations. Previous research has suggested mixed results with food insecurity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and gestational diabetes (GDM). This study’s objective is to explore the impact of living in a low food access environment (LAFE) on the incidence of T2DM and GDM in pregnant patients Study Design: This study was a retrospective chart review from 2014-2019 of patients with pregnancies complicated by T2DM and GDM who delivered a viable neonate. Patient census tracts were compared to the USDA Access Resource Atlas to identify patients who live in low food access neighborhoods. We defined a low access area as characterized by the number of housing units in the area without access to a vehicle that is more than 0.5 mile from a supermarket. Multivariable logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Results: 3897 patients were included in this study with 1377 (35.3%) residing in a LAFE and 2520 (64.7%) lived in high access food environments. In our univariate comparison analysis for food environment status, 4.6% (n = 117) of patients in the high food access environment had T2DM, whereas 4.8% (n = 66) with T2DM resided in a LAFE (p = 0.832). There were 13.7% (n = 345) of patients in a high food access environment had GDM, whereas 11.3% (n = 155) in a LAFE (p = 0.030) had GDM. However, after controlling for confounding variables in the multivariate regression model, neither T2DM nor GDM were significant. Black race (OR 3.7), other race (OR 1.8), younger maternal age, and drug use (OR 1.6) were statistically significant predictors of a low food access group. Conclusion: Our results suggest that T2DM and GDM are not significantly associated with residing in a low food access environment. More studies need to be done examining the role of other environmental and genetic factors that could predispose patients to these health conditions.

Volume

1

Issue

2

First Page

58

Comments

2024 Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Global Congress, September 25-28, 2024, Rome, Italy

Last Page

58

DOI

10.1002/pmf2.12045

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