Assessing Pediatric Food Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austin

Food Insecurity

food insecurity, COVID-19, pandemic

The investigators suspect that the current COVID-19 pandemic may be associated with a high level of unsuspected food insecurity among lower income Austin families who receive their health care at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Pediatricians will ask families about food insecurity as part of standard of care in order to assess if food insecurity has begun or worsened during the pandemic.

According to previous studies, 21-23% of lower income families experience food insecurity, a position of uncertainty about their ability to afford food or omitting meals for financial reasons. Food insecurity in a family is detrimental to a child's mental and physical health, and poses a risk to his/her development. Food insecurity prevalence has also been reported higher than the state level prevalence in households impacted by disasters. It is therefore reasonable to hypothesize that the unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic has increased the frequency of food insecurity among lower income families. However, no data are known about the current incidence of food insecurity during a pandemic with quarantine procedures in place. This knowledge will also add background for future studies on the effects of acute on chronic food insecurity on low-income families facing similar adversities such as this epidemic. A 2-question tool has been validated to evaluate the presence of food insecurity. An affirmative response to either question has been reported to yield a sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 83-86%. Screening for basic needs may open a sensitive discussion about economic difficulties associated with the adverse health outcomes previously discussed. While this tool is a current standard of care as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is often not utilized in medical visits to a primary care provider whether for routine well child care or for sick visits. During the study period, pediatricians at two FQHC clinics will make a concentrated effort to ask these 2 screening questions in order to collect data on the prevalence and magnitude of challenges of food insecurity at this time. Although the investigators are seeking to evaluate the current standard of care, they may want to share our findings in order to provide a foundation for more generalizable research. The investigators will seek to take a random sampling of 500 pediatric patients (250 each from 2 CommUnity Care clinics) and query the parent/guardian with the 2-question food insecurity tool during their regular appointment, either in person or on the phone/telehealth. The pediatricians (Co-Inv) will ask the questions and record the data. 2-questions to assess food insecurity as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics: 1. We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more. Was that often true, sometimes true, or never true for your household in the last 12 months? 2. The food we bought just didn't last, and we didn't have money to get more. Was that often true, sometimes true, or never true for your household in the last 12 months? A response of often true or sometimes true to either question = positive screen for Food Insecurity. The investigators will also ask the same 2 questions in the framework of …in the last 1-2 months to assess how the current situation has affected their immediate concerns. If the parent/guardian response with a positive screen for food insecurity, the pediatrician will refer the families to available community resources as is the usual standard of care. The investigators will not record any identifiable information. This is not a longitudinal study. In 4-6 months the investigators will repeat this procedure with another, different random sampling of 500 patients to assess any long lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic or to determine if the immediate food crisis due to the pandemic has passed. The investigators requested a waiver of consent for this project.

United States