Department of Pediatrics, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama.
Hosp Pediatr. 2022 Jun 1;12(6):e196-e200. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2022-006549.
The purpose of this study is to describe an advocacy effort to implement a food insecurity (FI) screening during hospital admission and describe characteristics of hospitalized patients with household FI.
This is a descriptive study after the implementation of FI screening at a quaternary-care children's hospital in the Southeastern United States between August 2020 and April 2021. The Hunger Vital Sign, a 2-question screening tool for FI, was added to the intake questionnaire performed on inpatient admissions. A positive screen triggered a social work consult to connect patients with resources. Chart review and statistical analyses were performed on patients with household FI.
There were 7751 hospital admissions during the study period, of which 4777 (61.6%) had an FI screen completed. Among those with a completed screen, 233 patients (4.9%) were positive for household FI. Patients with household FI were more likely to be Black (P <.001) and have Medicaid (P <.001). Social work documented care specific to FI in 125 of the 233 (56%) FI patients, of which 39 (31%) were not enrolled in the Women, Infants, and Children Program/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
This initiative highlights hospitalization as an opportunity to screen for FI using a multidisciplinary approach. Our findings underscore the importance of identifying FI with the goal of reducing FI and mitigating the adverse effects of FI on child health outcomes.
本研究旨在描述一项倡导活动，即在住院期间进行粮食不安全（FI）筛查，并描述有家庭粮食不安全的住院患者的特征。
这是在美国东南部的一家四级儿童医院实施 FI 筛查后进行的描述性研究，时间为 2020 年 8 月至 2021 年 4 月。饥饿生命体征（ Hunger Vital Sign）是一种用于 FI 的 2 个问题筛查工具，已添加到住院患者入院时进行的入院问卷中。阳性筛查会触发社会工作咨询，以将患者与资源联系起来。对有家庭粮食不安全的患者进行图表审查和统计分析。
在研究期间共有 7751 例住院，其中 4777 例（61.6%）完成了 FI 筛查。在完成筛查的患者中，有 233 例（4.9%）被诊断为家庭粮食不安全。有家庭粮食不安全的患者更可能是黑人（P <.001）和拥有医疗补助（P <.001）。社会工作在 233 例 FI 患者中的 125 例（56%）记录了与 FI 相关的具体护理，其中 39 例（31%）未参加妇女、婴儿和儿童计划/补充营养援助计划。
本倡议强调了使用多学科方法在住院期间筛查 FI 的重要性。我们的研究结果强调了识别 FI 的重要性，以减少 FI 并减轻 FI 对儿童健康结果的不利影响。
