Food Insecurity Screening and Intervention: From Hospital to Home

Study Summary

Food insecurity (FI), limited access to food due to a lack of money or other resources, affected an estimated 14% households with children in the US in 2018. Multiple national organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), have identified adverse childhood outcomes that are strongly correlated with FI, and the AAP recommends that physicians universally screen for and address FI, but screening for FI has primarily been addressed in the outpatient setting. Recent data demonstrates rising FI needs related to COVID-19 pandemic. There is limited information regarding screening and interventions for inpatient FI, defined as the inability to obtain adequate food during hospitalization. Previous work performed a cross-sectional study of 200 caregivers of hospitalized children in Chicago, Illinois, estimated the prevalence of inpatient FI to be 32%. Locally, work by Drs. Alice Lee, Lopez, and Bocchini identified hospital food insecurity (FI) in 43% of the caregivers of hospitalized children (Lee, Alice, et al. "Food Insecurity in the Caregivers of Hospitalized Pediatric Patients." Pediatrics 2018: 481-481.) . The investigators also found a strong association between inpatient and household food insecurity. Hospital food insecurity has a profound effect on caregiver's ability to participate in caring for their children during the hospitalization. Currently, there is not a valid screening tool to address inpatient food insecurity and there is a paucity of data on the effects of FI interventions implemented in the hospital setting. Additionally, there is new data from the COVID Impact Survey and The Hamilton Project/Future of the Middle Class Initiative Survey of Mothers with Young Children demonstrating that FI prevalence has more than doubled in household with children.