Screening for Social Risk Factors in the ICU During the Pandemic

Due to limitations in data collected through electronic health records, the social risk factors (SRFs) that predate severe illness and restrict access to critical care services are poorly understood.

This study explored the feasibility and utility of directly eliciting SRFs in the ICU by implementing a screening program.

Five hundred sixty-six critically ill patients at the medical ICU of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital from July 1, 2019, to September 31, 2021, were interviewed for SRFs using an adapted version of the American Academy of Family Physicians' Social Needs Screening Tool.

For each SRFs, we compared basic demographic factors, proxies of socioeconomic status, and severity score between those with and without the SRFs through chi-square tests and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Furthermore, we determined the prevalence of SRFs overall, before, and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of critically ill patients, 39.58% reported at least one SRF. Age, zip-code matched median household income, and insurance type differed depending on the SRFs. Notably, patients with SRFs were admitted with a lower average severity score, indicating reduced risk in mortality. Since March 2020, the prevalence of SRFs in the ICU overall fell from 54.47% to 35.44%. Conversely, the proportion of patients unable to afford healthcare increased statistically significantly from 7.32% to 18.06%.

Screening for SRFs in the ICU detected the presence of disproportionally low-risk patients whose access to critical care services became restricted throughout the pandemic.