The impact of income support interventions on children’s long-term health trajectories: a systematic review

Authors

Francesca Candelora, Silvia Maritano, Costanza Pizzi, Matteo Richiardi, Lorenzo Richiardi, Delia Boccia

Publication Date

Nov 2025

Summary

Background: The delivery of income support interventions at an early age has positive short-term health impacts on children. However, less is known about whether those effects are sustained later in life. We addressed this question by systematically reviewing the literature on long-term (i.e., assessed after 5 + years) health impacts of income support interventions delivered in preschool age (in utero to 5 years). Methods: We focused only on experimental or quasi-experimental studies, without country restrictions. We retrieved studies from subject-specific databases for general, mental health, and economics, and from citation searching. All the retrieved literature was double-screened at the title, abstract, and full-text stages. We performed a data extraction of the relevant information from the eligible studies and synthesised them via a narrative synthesis approach. Results: Nine studies, eight quasi-experimental and one randomised control trial, were deemed eligible, all conducted in high or middle-income countries. These studies assessed several health outcomes, including overall mortality, cause-specific hospitalisation, mental health, and anthropometrics. Consistent long-term health improvements were observed from early income support interventions exposure across all the health dimensions assessed. Conclusions: Despite knowledge gaps, especially in low-income countries, our results suggest that implementing income support interventions during preschool age can have a prolonged positive effect across several health dimensions. Implementing such policies and strategies would prove beneficial for health, alongside their main goal of reducing childhood poverty and health inequalities.

Volume

Volume: 25:4162

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25020-0

Publication type

Journal Article

Research area

Family and gender

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