Food Insecurity Is Common in the Orthopedic Trauma Population at a Rural Academic Trauma Center

Food insecurity is an increasingly recognized public health issue. Identifying risk factors for food insecurity would support public health initiatives to provide targeted nutrition interventions to high-risk individuals. Food insecurity has not been investigated in the orthopedic trauma population.

From April 27, 2021 to June 23, 2021, we surveyed patients within six months of operative pelvic and/or extremity fracture fixation at a single institution. Food insecurity was assessed using the validated United States Department of Agriculture Household Food Insecurity questionnaire generating a food security score of 0 to 10. Patients with a food security score ≥ 3 were classified as Food Insecure (FI) and patients with a food security score < 3 were classified as Food Secure (FS). Patients also completed surveys for demographic information and food consumption. Differences between FI and FS for continuous and categorical variables were evaluated using the Wilcoxon sum rank test and Fisher's exact test, respectively. Spearman's correlation was used to describe the relationship between food security score and participant characteristics. Logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between patient demographics and odds of FI.

We enrolled 158 patients (48% female) with a mean age of 45.5 ± 20.3 years. Twenty-one patients (13.3%) screened positive for food insecurity (High security: n=124, 78.5%; Marginal security: n=13, 8.2%; Low security: n=12, 7.6%; Very Low security: n=9, 5.7%). Those with a household income level of ≤ $15,000 were 5.7 times more likely to be FI (95% CI 1.8-18.1). Widowed/single/divorced patients were 10.2 times more likely to be FI (95% CI 2.3-45.6). Median time to the nearest full-service grocery store was significantly longer for FI patients (t=10 minutes) than for FS patients (t=7 minutes, p=0.0202). Age (r= -0.08, p=0.327) and hours working (r= -0.10, p=0.429) demonstrated weak to no correlation with food security score.

Food insecurity is common in the orthopedic trauma population at our rural academic trauma center. Those with lower household income and those living alone are more likely to be FI. Multicenter studies are warranted to evaluate the incidence and risk factors for food insecurity in a more diverse trauma population and to better understand its impact on patient outcomes. Level of Evidence: III.