Food Insecurity and Health Care Expenditures in the United States, 2011–2013

Berkowitz, Seth A.; Basu, Sanjay; Meigs, Michelle; Seligman, Molly

doi:10.1111/1475-6773.12730

Cited by 199 publications

(193 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…About one‐third of these individuals were living with a more serious level of food insecurity, “very low food security (VLFS).” Second, vast literature has demonstrated the numerous negative health consequences associated with food insecurity . As might be expected, these negative health consequences are also associated with higher health care costs (Berkowitz et al 2017; Tarasuk et al ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 79%

The Determinants of Food Insecurity among Food Bank Clients in the United States

Gundersen¹,

Engelhard²,

Hake³

2017

Journal of Consumer Affairs

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The majority of poor households in the United States are food secure which is both surprising and not well-understood. We increase our understanding by looking at a particularly vulnerable group-people visiting food pantries-through the use of the Hunger in America (HIA) 2014 data set. Along with providing information on households often overlooked in other data sets, HIA has a wide array of questions. We find, in comparison to food secure households, that food insecure households are more likely to have challenges paying their bills and are more likely to use coping mechanisms. These effects are large, especially when compared to the standard set of explanatory variables. We also find that the impact of the standard set of covariates change dramatically when we include variables that are often unobserved, suggesting that there may be biases in some of the central findings on the determinants of the food insecurity.

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confidence: 79%

The Determinants of Food Insecurity among Food Bank Clients in the United States

Gundersen¹,

Engelhard²,

Hake³

2017

Journal of Consumer Affairs

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“…Food insecurity has been associated with delaying medical care, the timely and adequate intake of medications, and higher levels of service use such as emergency department visits and hospitalizations (28). Furthermore, food-insecure older adults appear to have more difficulty with the control and management of their chronic health conditions (20) and defer attending to their immediate health needs (29); both difficulties ultimately result in higher health care costs. Given the risks of going hungry, food-insecure adults also manifest a preference for unhealthy eating behaviors such as binge eating and consumption of high-calorie foods, which increase body fat, decrease muscle tissue, augment obesity and hypertension, and affect the endocrine, metabolic, catabolic, and cardiovascular systems (30).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incremental Health Care Costs Associated With Food Insecurity and Chronic Conditions Among Older Adults

2018

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IntroductionThe prevalence of food insecurity and chronic health conditions among older adults is a public health concern. However, little is known about associated health care costs. We estimated the incremental health care costs of food insecurity and selected chronic health conditions among older adults, defined as adults aged 50 or older.MethodsWe analyzed 4 years of data (2011–2014) from the National Health Interview Survey and 3 years of data (2013–2015) from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey; we used 2-part models to estimate the incremental health care costs associated with food insecurity and 9 chronic conditions (hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, emphysema, asthma, cancer, chronic bronchitis, arthritis, and diabetes) among older adults.ResultsApproximately 14% of older adult respondents (n = 2,150) reported being food insecure. The 3 most common chronic conditions were the same for both food-insecure and food-secure older adults: hypertension, arthritis, and diabetes. The adjusted annual incremental health care costs resulting from food insecurity among older adults were higher in the presence of hypertension, stroke, and arthritis (P ≤ .05) and in the presence of diabetes (P ≤ .10). These findings were also true for the incremental health care costs resulting from food insecurity in the absence of these specific chronic conditions.ConclusionOur findings show that food insecurity interacts with chronic conditions. We observed higher health care costs in the presence of this interaction for those who were food insecure and had poor health than for those who were food secure.

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“…Conversely, individuals in food-insecure households may experience such anxiety, as well as reductions in both the quality and quantity of food available. 12 Food insecurity often forces patients to make trade-offs between food and other resources; for example, the Hunger in America 2014 survey found that approximately 66% of households receiving food resources from the Feeding America network of food banks had to choose between paying for food and medicine or medical care. 8 Resulting nutritional deficiencies may contribute to malnutrition and an increased risk of chronic disease such as depression, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and sleep disorders.…”

Section: Food Insecurity and Adverse Health Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food insecurity screening: A missing piece in cancer management

Patel

Borno

Seligman

2019

Cancer

Self Cite

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INTRODUCTIONFood insecurity remains an underrecognized social determinant of health. 1-3 In 2017, approximately 11.8% of US households were food insecure. These households included approximately 40 million individuals. 4 The percentage of foodinsecure households is higher among racial/ethnic minorities, single-parent and low-income households, and individuals with low levels of education. 4 Research establishing the relationships between food insecurity and many adverse health outcomes, including chronic conditions such as diabetes, is relatively mature. 5-7 However, to the best of our knowledge, the association between food insecurity and cancer outcomes remains poorly understood. In this commentary, we briefly review studies examining the relationship between food insecurity and chronic illness, particularly cancer; postulate potential mechanisms for this correlation; suggest opportunities for screening and the subsequent management of food insecurity in the cancer clinical setting; and identify areas for further research.

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Food Insecurity and Health Care Expenditures in the United States, 2011–2013

Abstract: Food insecurity was associated with greater subsequent health care expenditures. Future studies should determine whether food insecurity interventions can improve health and reduce health care costs.

Cited by 199 publications

References 43 publications

The Determinants of Food Insecurity among Food Bank Clients in the United States

The Determinants of Food Insecurity among Food Bank Clients in the United States

Incremental Health Care Costs Associated With Food Insecurity and Chronic Conditions Among Older Adults

Food insecurity screening: A missing piece in cancer management

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