title: US Housing insecurity and the health of very young children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the association between housing insecurity and the health of very young children.
  
  
  METHODS
  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).
  
  
  RESULTS
  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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Diana Becker Cutts, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA. Diana.cutts@hcmed.org
authors.forename: Diana Becker
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Cutts
authors.forename: Alan F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Meyers
authors.forename: Maureen M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: Patrick H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chilton
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Joni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geppert
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ettinger de Cuba
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heeren
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rose-Jacobs
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Frank
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003441:Crowding; D003625:Data Collection; D004032:Diet; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011203:Poverty; D014481:United States