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 Not all economic types of hardship had the same effect, though.
Researchers found that after the 2007 U.S. economic crash, children
in areas where houses were being foreclosed tended to lose weight.
“We often think about how recessions directly affect adults (e.g.
their jobs, their 401k), but these economic downturns have trickle
down effects that impact children’s health,” said lead author
Vanessa Oddo, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health in Baltimore.
“This study suggests that there are negative and potentially
long-lasting health effects of an economic shock like the Great
Recession on children,” Oddo told Reuters Health by email.
Low-income children are more likely to be obese than those from
higher-income families and may be more vulnerable to health problems
like diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
To see how economic downturns might affect childhood obesity risk,
the study team looked at indicators of economic change across
California between 2008 and 2012, including unemployment levels and
house foreclosures. The researchers also used data on the heights
and weights of 1.7 million school-age children from the state
department of education.
The average age of children in the study was 13 and more than half
were Latino.
Researchers compared economic indicators at the county level and
changes in each child’s body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight
relative to height. During the study period, they calculated, for
every 1 percent increase in unemployment in a community, local
children saw a 14 percent increase in BMI.
The effect of unemployment on weight gain was more extreme for
high-income and rural communities and for girls, according to the
results in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
American Indian and Pacific Islander children also saw greater
weight gain effects linked to unemployment.
For children in communities where people were losing their houses to
foreclosure, hardship seemed to have the opposite effect on weight.
Children saw a 3 percent drop in their risk of obesity for every 1
percent increase in foreclosures.
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“We think that unemployment (resulting in decreased income) could
render fruits and vegetables and other more healthful foods
unaffordable. This would likely lead to increased consumption of
cheaper, highly processed convenience foods (e.g. boxed macaroni and
cheese),” Oddo said.
During recessions, she added, families might also be unable to
afford to send children to after school sports or play, and
communities might be forced to close parks or playgrounds, meaning
that children would have fewer opportunities for exercise.
“Foreclosure is a more extreme form of hardship,” Oddo said, noting
that families evicted from their homes might be forced to buy only
the most basic staple foods and might lose weight as a result.
“It is increasingly evident that factors associated with poverty,
including unemployment, housing instability, and food security, are
related to child health,” said Dr. Laura Gottlieb of the University
of California, San Francisco, who studies poverty and childhood
obesity but was not involved in the new study.
Gottlieb noted in an email that the American Academy of Pediatrics
Task Force on Poverty and Child Health has developed recommendations
for policymakers, including the importance of funding food stamps,
school lunches, and summer food programs for children.
Oddo said the health consequences of a recession can be very serious
for children but there are ways to help. “During the Recession many
policy makers wanted to cut spending. But it is important to keep in
place social safety nets,” she said.
SOURCE: bit.ly/1ZBRzbj Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,
online June 1, 2016.
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