Food insecurity (FI) is increasingly being identified and addressed by healthcare organizations; nevertheless, there is scant data from clinic-based settings on how FI rates change over time. This study aimed to look at household FI trends at a clinic that had introduced a FI screening and referral program for two years. All children aged 0–18 years whose parents/guardians had been screened for FI at least once between February 1, 2018, and February 28, 2019 (Year 1) and screened at least once between March 1, 2019, and February 28, 2020 (Year 2) were included in this retrospective cohort analysis (Year 2). They looked for variations of bivariate analysis in FI and demographics using chi-square tests. The change in FI between Years 1 and 2 was assessed using mixed-effects logistic regression with a random intercept for participants to compensate for variables. They examined the interaction between year and covariates to investigate differences in FI change by demographics.
About 3,691 (59.7%) of the 6,182 patients examined in Year 1 were seen at least once in Year 2 and were included in this analysis. 19.6% of participants reported household FI in the first year, compared to 14.1% in the second year. In Year 2, 40% of individuals who had FI in Year 1 had FI in Year 2. 92.3%of individuals who had food security in year one continued to have food security in year two. African American/Black (OR: 3.53, 95% CI: 2.33, 5.34; p = 0.001) and White (OR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.06, 3.36; p = 0.03) participants had higher odds of reporting FI than Hispanic/Latinx participants. Between Years 1 and 2, African American/Black participants exhibited the greatest decrease in FI (7.3, 95% CI: 11.7, 4.1% p<0.0001). Because FI is a transitional condition, especially for racial/ethnic minorities, screening can help identify families experiencing it.
Reference:bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-021-02829-3
