Karin M. Nelson
Hunger in an Adult Patient Population
contextalthough clinical observations suggest patients experience hunger food insecurity limited data prevalence hunger adult patientsobjectiveto determine prevalence hunger food insecurity adult patients urban county hospitaldesigncrosssectional survey conducted 1997patientsthe primary survey included patients aged 18 years older admitted medicine surgery neurology services 2week period patients attended hospitals general medicine clinic 1 week second survey included primary care patients received insulin hospital pharmacy 1month periodmain outcome measuresrates hunger food insecurityresultsof 709 eligible patients 567 participation rate 80 interviewed either clinic n281 hospital n286 additional 170 patients received insulin interviewed telephone response rate 75 primary sample 68 12 respondents reported enough food 75 13 reported eating entire day 77 14 reported going hungry eating could afford food total 222 40 received food stamps previous year 113 50 food stamps reduced eliminated recipients whose food stamps eliminated reduced likely report enough food 18 vs 13p006 eating whole day 20 vs 16 p01 going hungry eating 20 vs 16 p08 cutting size meals skipping meals 33 vs 27p01 multivariate analysis independent predictors hunger included annual income less 10000 odds ratio 755 95 ci 3011892 drug use 356 95 ci 146866 reduction food stamp benefits 173 95 ci 101296 predictors food insecurity included annual income less 10000 412 95 confidence interval ci 198858 drug use 211 95 ci 166508 reduction food stamps 202 95 ci 123332 addition 103 61 patients sample diabetics reported hypoglycemic reactions 32 31 attributed inability afford foodconclusionhunger food insecurity common among patients seeking care urban county hospital