Birth and Early Childhood Outcomes in Families Receiving an Unconditional Prenatal Cash Benefit

Do participants in the Healthy Baby Prenatal Benefit Program still have improved birth and early childhood outcomes compared with nonparticipants, despite no change in the benefit amount over the last 20 years?In this cohort study with 17 970 low-income mothers and children, receiving the benefit was initially associated with better birth outcomes. However, many of these associations weakened over time and were no longer statistically significant or practically meaningful.The findings of this study suggest that government funders should regularly adjust child benefit amounts for inflation to maintain improvements to birth and early childhood outcomes for recipients.

Corresponding Author: Jennifer E. Enns, PhD, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, University of Manitoba, 408-727 McDermot Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3P5, Canada (Jennifer.enns@umanitoba.ca).

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