Table 3.

Associations Between SNAP Participation and Adolescent Anthropometric Measures of Adiposity: NHANES 2003–2010

	Continuous measure			Clinical definitiona
Measures	Mean ± SE	Multivariate- adjustedb		n (%)	Multivariate- adjustedb
		β	95% CI		OR	95% CI
BMI-for-age Z scorec
Higher-income nonparticipants	0.59 ± 0.04	Ref.		359 (19.0)	Ref.
Income-eligible   nonparticipants	0.56 ± 0.05	0.11	−0.05, 0.28	295 (18.6)	1.15	0.83, 1.59
SNAP participants	0.74 ± 0.05	0.21	0.01, 0.41	303 (27.5)	1.59	1.06, 2.39
Waist circumference Z scored
Higher-income nonparticipants	−0.05 ± 0.04	Ref.		486 (33.6)	Ref.
Income-eligible   nonparticipants	0.03 ± 0.05	0.09	−0.06, 0.25	447 (32.1)	1.21	0.87, 1.68
SNAP participants	0.08 ± 0.04	0.21	0.03, 0.39	364 (33.6)	1.48	0.96, 2.27
Waist-to-height ratio
Higher-income nonparticipants	0.49 ± 0.003	Ref.		652 (37.1)	Ref.
Income-eligible nonparticipants	0.50 ± 0.004	0.01	−0.01, 0.02	604 (39.7)	1.01	0.75, 1.38
SNAP participants	0.51 ± 0.004	0.02	0.00, 0.03	482 (43.6)	1.21	0.80, 1.82

Note: Boldface indicates statistical significance (p<0.05).

^aObesity was defined as BMI-for-age ≥95th percentile; elevated waist circumference was defined as a waist circumference ≥90th percentile specific to their age, sex and ethnicity; elevated waist-to-height ratio was defined as waist-to-height ratio >0.50.

^bModel adjusted for adolescent’s age, adolescent’s gender, adolescent’s race/ethnicity, parental birth place, parental educational attainment, parental marital status, household size, household income, household WIC participation, and household food insecurity.

^cBMI-for-age z score derived from age- and sex-specific percentiles using the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts

^dWaist circumference z score derived from analytic sample

SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey