P0507 - Food Insecurity in a Pediatric Emergency Department

Background: Food insecurity (FI) is a public health problem affecting more than one in 10 US children. FI can lead to poor health outcomes, mental health issues, and increased emergency department (ED) utilization. Given that FI can affect health outcomes in youth, understanding the frequency of FI in an ED population is necessary for the development of targeted interventions to improve the health of children.

Objective: To measure the frequency of food insecurity and associated sociodemographic and social determinants of health in a pediatric ED population.

Design/

Methods: Secondary data analysis of survey data collected from an urban pediatric ED of adolescents aged 13-21 years and caregivers of children 0-17 years from July 2017 to August 2019. Participants were screened for 12 social and behavioral risks: food security, housing, safety, access to healthcare, mental health, education, substance use, immigration, intimate partner violence (IPV), legal issues, sexual health, and human trafficking. The proportion of adolescents and caregivers reporting FI was tabulated. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression were used to measure the associations of FI with sociodemographic factors and of FI with other social/behavioral health risks.

Results: Of the 970 (392 adolescent, 578 caregivers) participants who underwent screening, 8.7% reported FI (6.9% of adolescent and 9.9% of caregiver respondents). In multivariable analyses, age, race/ethnicity, education, and insurance status were not associated with FI risk. FI was associated with lower household income among caregivers and female gender among adolescents (Table 1). Among both adolescent and caregiver respondents, FI was associated with intimate partner violence, housing insecurity, and legal issues. Among adolescents, FI was associated with safety concerns, mental health issues, substance abuse, and human trafficking (Table 2).

Conclusion(s): Almost 10% of surveyed respondents reported being food insecure. FI was associated with multiple behavioral and social health risks. Given that FI is not found in isolation, clinicians aiming to address FI should also consider the entire social context of their patients.