(892) Influence of area deprivation index on diet quality in pregnancy

Area Deprivation Index (ADI) is a measure of socioeconomic disadvantage at the neighborhood level. Pregnant patients living in disadvantaged areas are at higher risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes due to various community-level factors including limited access to high quality and nutritious food. We studied the relationship between ADI, diet quality, and dietary components in pregnancy.


Study Design:

This is a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study of singleton pregnancies who completed the NIH Dietary Health Questionnaire II (DHQ-II) in the third trimester or within 3 months of delivery. The primary outcome was the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015 score, a measure of diet quality. Secondary outcomes were dietary components of the HEI score, high HEI 2015 score ( > 70), and other DHQ-II components. These outcomes were compared between patients with low ADI < 9 decile (less deprived; < 75^th percentile) and high ADI ≥ 9 (more deprived; ≥ 75^th percentile). Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the association between ADI and each of the above-mentioned outcomes.


Results:

Of the 650 patients included, 445 (68%) had low ADI and 205 (32%) had high ADI. The mean ADI among all participants is 5.8±3.1. Although not statistically significant, patients in higher ADI areas showed lower HEI-2015 total scores compared to those in lower ADI areas (56.0±8.8 vs 61.1±10.3, p=0.68). High ADI was significantly associated with lower dairy intake (p=0.01) and greater water intake (p=0.03) compared to low ADI. All other components were similar between groups.


Conclusion:

Overall diet quality did not differ significantly between ADI groups; however, patients in more deprived neighborhoods had significantly lower dairy and higher water intake. Future work can investigate the link between dairy and water intake and adverse pregnancy outcomes.