Gloria V. Cabrero, LaKeisha Boyd, Deanna Reinoso, Richard J. Holden, Daniel O. Clark, Titus K. Schleyer, Rebecca L. Rivera

FoodRx: Exploring Disparities in Food Insecurity and Eye Health Conditions

Introduction

Foodrx: exploring disparities in food insecurity and eye health conditions. Explore disparities in food insecurity and eye health outcomes in medically underserved populations of Marion County. Investigate screening methods and associations with eye conditions.

Abstract

Background: Good nutrition and chronic disease management are important for eye health; however, little is known about the relationship between food insecurity and eye health outcomes. Marion County is designated as a medically underserved area, and 25% of families rely on food assistance. Additionally, Indianapolis is considered one of the least accessible American cities in terms of healthy food options. Objective: My central research objective was to understand how food insecurity impacts eye health in medically underserved populations. This project had three specific aims: 1) understand the process of identifying food insecurity in an eye clinic setting; 2) implement food insecurity screening in a student run eye clinic; and 3) determine associations of food security status with eye health outcomes among Eskenazi Health patients. Methods: In Aims 1 and 2, I consulted the literature and clinicians from the Eskenazi Health Department of Ophthalmology. I developed a protocol implementing food insecurity screening into the electronic health record of a student-run eye clinic using the clinic-based Hunger Vital Sign (HVS) 2-question screener. For Aim 3, I worked with a Regenstrief Data Core analyst to extract patient and community demographic information, eye health conditions, and food insecurity status from the Eskenazi Health Data Warehouse. Results: I implemented the food insecurity protocol as a quality improvement project into the student-run eye clinic and to date n=12 patients were screened. Additionally, I developed an analytical plan which included consolidating 1,073 eye-related ICD-10 codes into two groups: “nutrition-related eye disease” or “other eye disease.” Conclusion: These exploratory study findings will generate future research questions and quality improvement initiatives to further investigate tailored clinic-community prevention initiatives, such as extending the food insecurity screener to other healthcare settings and integrating community resources with health care.

Full Text

Comments

You need to be logged in to post a comment.