food insecurity

Etiology

• socioeconomic & environmental factors
• inadequate planned parenthood

Epidemiology

• 16,000,000 US children (21%) live in households without consistent access to adequate food

Complications

• low food security is associated with increased risk for premature death
  • increased risk of 80% with very low food security

• disease interaction(s) of diabetes mellitus with food insecurity

Management

• American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screening forfood insecurity
  • 2 question screening tool (for parents)
    • in the past year, have you worried whether food would run out before you were able to buy more?
    • does the food you purchase last until you have enough money to buy more?
  • insufficient evidence for routine screening (USPSTF)

More general terms

• sign/symptom

Additional terms

• hunger
• starvation