LATEBREAKER
Nutrition/Obesity
Food Insecurity Increases Cardiovascular Mortality Risk Among Latino Americans with Arthritis Sri Banerjee* Sri Banerjee Jagdish Khubchandani May Beydoun Kayla Landry Kayla Landry Michael Goins Jacqueline Gavino Heather Esnaola Ashley Hamm
Food insecurity continues to be increasing, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, complex chronic diseases are connected to food insecurity that result in increasing the risk of other diseases. Hunger, the most extreme form of food insecurity and interrupted eating patterns can have harmful consequences on physical health. In this study we wanted to determine if arthritis is connected to food insecurity among Latino Americans.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a nationally representative survey with Latino American respondents from the survey, who were 20 years or older between the years 1999-2010 being included in the analysis with mortality follow-up through December 31, 2019. Food insecurity was determined by the USDA Household Food Security Survey Module questionnaire. Arthritis was determined by physician-diagnosed self-reported data. CVD mortality rate was determined from major cardiovascular disease as the underlying cause of death (ICD-10: I00-I78) among United States adults. Complex samples Cox regression was used to assess if food insecurity influenced the relationship between arthritis and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality.
Percent mortality among individuals with arthritis was 6.5% among males and 11.8% among females with mean follow-up of 10.4 years. For CVD mortality, the overall unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for arthritis to no arthritis was 5.10 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.43-7.59, p < 0.001). The adjusted HR was elevated, 2.62 (CI 1.32-5.20, p < 0.01), among individuals who had arthritis and food insecure but close to 1.0 (1.09 CI 0.32-3.75, p = 0.53) among individuals who had arthritis and food insecure, after adjusting for medical and demographic risk factors. Similar patterns were not observed within the general population.
This study was the first time that anyone has determined in unadjusted and adjusted models that food insecurity and arthritis combined has worse outcomes than arthritis alone from a nationally representative sample. This was tested to prevent joint diseases and lead to improved outcomes. Food insecurity screening needs to be improved as well to prevent disease. Also, the ethnic disparities on the effect of food insecurity are important to determine. This way disparate dietary patterns and eating habits can be influenced by a person’s ethnicity.
