Re-evaluating associations between the supplemental nutrition assistance program participation and body mass index in the context of unmeasured confounders

Objective: To evaluate the association between participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and body mass index (BMI) in the presence of unmeasured confounding.

Methods: We applied new matching methods to determine whether previous reports of associations between SNAP participation and BMI were robust to unmeasured confounders. We applied near-far matching, which strengthens standard matching by combining it with instrumental variables analysis, to the nationally-representative National Household Food Acquisition and Purchasing Survey (FoodAPS, N = 10,360, years 2012-13).

Results: In ordinary least squares regressions controlling for individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, SNAP was associated with increased BMI (+1.23 kg/m2, 95% CI: 0.84, 1.63). While propensity-score-based analysis replicated this finding, using instrumental variables analysis and particularly near-far matching to strengthen the instruments' discriminatory power revealed the association between SNAP and BMI was likely confounded by unmeasured covariates (+0.21 kg/m2, 95% CI: -3.88, 4.29).

Conclusions: Previous reports of an association between SNAP and obesity should be viewed with caution, and use of near-far matching may assist similar assessments of health effects of social programs.