2016 New York State Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System Report

The annual NYS Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System (PedNSS) report provides data on the prevalence and trends of nutrition-related indicators for infants and children (< 5 years of ages) enrolled in the New York Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). The list of indicators includes low birthweight, short stature, underweight, overweight, anemia, breastfeeding (e.g. initiation, duration, and exclusivity), smoking in household, and TV viewing.

If you have any question regarding the PedNSS reports, please send your inquiry to WICDATA@health.ny.gov with PedNSS as the subject title.

Highlights from the 2016 NYS PedNSS Report

  • Demographic Characteristics

    • There was a 3.8% decrease in the number of individual infants/children certified from 427,564 in 2015 to 411,311 in 2016 (Table 1C).
    • Compared to the 2015 cohort, in 2016 the percentage of WIC infants/children identifying as white or black declined slightly while there was a 0.8 percentage point increase in Asian participants (Table 1C).
    • Though a majority of the NYS WIC families (85.8%) were stilling living below 130% of the federal poverty level (FPL) in 2016, there was a 1.7 percentage point decrease in families below 100% FPL compared to that in 2015 (Table 1C). This might indicate a positive shift in household economic conditions among NYS WIC families in 2016.
    • More infants/children (0.9 percentage point increase) were covered under Medicaid in 2016 compared to 2015 (Table 1C).

  • Birth Weight

    • In 2016, the prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) reached 9.4% among infants/children in the NYS WIC program (Table 2C). The corresponding Healthy People 2020 (HP2020)†objective is to reduce the rate of LBW to 7.8%.

  • Growth Indicators

    • Following CDC's latest recommendation on the use of the 2000 CDC Growth Chart§, the upper cut points for biologically implausible values (BIVs) of growth measurements were increased from +5 to +8 for modified z-score of weight and BMI, and +3 to +4 for modified z-score of height. This increase of BIV cut points resulted in retaining values that would previously have been excluded as extreme, but were likely not errors, when prevalence of growth indicators was estimated among children 2-4 years old. All growth prevalence presented in the 2016 Annual PedNSS Report, including historical data in Tables 12C, 18C, and 20C, were estimated after removing BIVs identified by applying the new upper cut points.
    • The prevalence of short stature held steady at 5.4% in 2016, compared to 5.3% in 2015, among all infants/children in the NYS WIC program (Table 12C). Based on the 2006 WHO Growth Chart, infants tend to have higher prevalence of short stature compared to children 1 year of age for all racial/ethnic groups, with blacks having the largest difference (i.e., 10.5% vs. 4.7%) and white the smallest difference (i.e., 8.9% vs. 7.9%) (Table 16C). Based on the 2000 CDC Growth Chart, among children 2 years of age and older, whites consistently had the highest prevalence of short stature at all age categories compared to children of other races/ethnicities.
    • Among all infants/children in the NYS WIC program, the prevalence of underweight and obesity in 2016 (4.4% and 10.5%, respectively) remained the same as that in 2015 (Table 12C).
    • Among children 2 years of age and older, the crude rate of overweight and obesity in 2016 remained stable compared to that in 2015 (15.5% & 13.7% compared to 15.6% & 13.7%, respectively) (Table 12C). Hispanics had the highest overweight and obesity prevalence in all age categories (i.e., 16.6% & 13.9% for aged 2, 17.7% & 17.9% for aged 3, and 17.7% & 20.2% for aged 4, respectively), while Asians had the lowest overweight and obesity rate in all age categories (i.e., 11.2% & 7.2% for aged 2, 12.0% & 10.2% for aged 3, and 12.6% & 10.5% for aged 4, respectively) (Table 16C).

  • Breastfeeding Indicators

    • The breastfeeding initiation rate continued to increase from 83.4% (2015) to 84.8% (2016) with increases across all racial/ethnic groups participating the NYS WIC program (Table 19C). Furthermore, Asians and blacks and had the largest increase (2.6 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively). Whites (with the initiation rate at 80.1%) were the only racial/ethnic group that had not reached the HP2020 breastfeeding initiation goal of 81.9% in 2016.
    • There were notable improvements (i.e., 1.0 percentage point or more) in breastfeeding duration indicators in the 2016 PedNSS report compared to those in the 2015 report (Table 3C). In particular, 55.3% (vs. 53.9%), 41.4% (vs. 39.5%), and 24.4% (vs. 22.8%) of infants in the 2016 (vs. 2015) cohort were breastfed for ≥3, ≥6, and ≥12 months, respectively. The NYS WIC program continued to make progress toward meeting the the HP2020 objectives for breastfeeding ≥6 months (60.6%) and ≥12 months (34.1%).
    • In 2016, the overall prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding for ≥3 months and ≥6 months reached 15.1% and 9.2%, up from 14.3% and 8.0% in 2015, respectively (Table 3C).
  • †https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/About-Healthy-People
  • §https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/growthcharts/resources/sas.htm
  • http://www.who.int/childgrowth/en/

State Level Statistics

County Level Statistics