• Am J Prev Med · Jan 2024

    Adverse Consequences of Food Insecurity Among US Adults Beyond Health Outcomes.

    • Sungchul Park, Jie Chen, and BustamanteArturo VargasAVDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, UCLA, UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute, Los Angeles, California..
    • Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Health Science, BK21 FOUR R&E Center for Learning Health Systems, Korea University, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: sungchul_park@korea.ac.kr.
    • Am J Prev Med. 2024 Jan 1; 66 (1): 146153146-153.

    IntroductionFood insecurity is associated with poorer health, but the adverse consequences of food insecurity may extend beyond just health outcomes. Thus, this study examined the association between food insecurity and health insurance coverage, access to care, healthcare utilization, and financial hardships among U.S. adults.MethodsThis study employed a retrospective longitudinal cohort study design using panel data from the 2016-2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Linear probability models were used to examine the association between food insecurity in 1 year and outcomes of interest (health insurance coverage, access to care, healthcare utilization, and financial hardships) in the subsequent year. Analysis was conducted in April 2023.ResultsFood insecurity was associated with higher uninsured rates and lower private coverage rates (3.5 [95% CI: 1.6-5.5] and -3.9 [95% CI: -6.2, -1.7] percentage points). Moreover, food insecurity was associated with lower access to care, including delay in receiving necessary medical care and delay in obtaining necessary prescription drugs (2.9 [95% CI: 1.0-4.8] and 4.1 [95% CI: 2.1-6.2]). Furthermore, food insecurity was associated with a higher rate of emergency room visits (2.8 [95% CI: 0.1-5.7]), whereas associations with inpatient, outpatient, and prescription drug use were not significant. Food insecurity was also associated with greater financial hardships, such as experiencing difficulties paying medical bills (9.6 [95% CI: 6.7-12.6]).ConclusionsThese findings highlight the adverse consequences of food insecurity on access to and affordability of care for U.S. adults and families. Food insecurity can have far-reaching implications for the well-being of individuals and families.Copyright © 2023 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.