ArticleHealth services research2020
Unmet social needs among low-income adults in the United States: Associations with health care access and quality.
Article in Health services research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Collecting and using social needs data in health settings: a systematic review of the literature on health service utilization and costs.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Rehabilitation and Social Determinants of Health in Critical Illness Recovery Literature: A Systematic Review.Critical care explorations · 2024Pooled it
- Social Risk-Informed Decision Support and Blood Pressure Control in a Primary Care Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Annals of family medicine · 2026Trial
- Greater Covid-19 vaccine uptake among enrollees offered health and social needs case management: Results from a randomized trial.Health services research · 2024Trial
- Social Determinants of Health Coding Among Hospital Visits Made by Adults With Cancer.JCO oncology practice · 2026Article
- Experiences of Social Risk Screening in the Safety-Net Among Patients with Mental Health Needs.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Families' Unmet Social Needs in Pediatric Primary Care Settings.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- CAPABLEJournal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Unmet Health-Related Social Needs Among Black Adults Who Smoke.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Potential for Bias in Social Needs Data Collection and Screening Activities in Health Care Settings.JAMA health forum · 2026Article
- Insurance-Related Disparities in Mental Health Status and Care Among Low-Income U.S. Adults, 2019-2023.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- A Scoping Review of Qualitative Studies on Inpatient Care for Individuals with Sickle Cell Disease.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Amplifying community perspectives in Medicaid policymaking: findings from North Carolina.Health affairs scholar · 2026Article
- A multidimensional framework for mapping social need to electronic health records in people with multimorbidity.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Inform Care Coordination by Identifying and Intervening in Patients' Unmet Social Needs: A Scoping Review.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Article
- Digital Health Technologies for Screening and Identifying Unmet Social Needs: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Health mediation mechanisms influencing healthcare utilization of underserved populations: a qualitative study in 2 districts in France.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Disparities in Medicare Annual Wellness Visits After a Systemwide Quality Improvement Initiative: A Serial Cross-sectional Analysis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo describe social needs among low-income adults and estimate the relationship between level of unmet social needs and key indicators of health care access and quality. DATA SOURCE: National survey data from 12 states from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which added a "Social Determinants of Health" Module in 2017. STUDY
designWe examined differences in eight measures of health care access and quality (eg, check-up in last 12 months, inability to see doctor due to cost, receipt of eye examination for diabetics) for low-income adults with 0, 1, 2-3, and 4+ unmet social needs based on 7 social needs measures. We used adjusted logistic regression models to estimate the association between level of unmet need and each outcome. PRINCIPAL
findingsMost common unmet social needs included not having enough money for balanced meals (33 percent) or food (32 percent). After adjusting for observable characteristics, higher levels of unmet social need were associated with poorer access and quality. Compared to those with no reported unmet needs, having 4+ unmet needs was significantly associated with reduced probability of having a yearly check-up (65 percent vs 78 percent, adjusted difference = -7.1 percentage points (PP)), receiving a flu vaccine (33 percent vs 42 percent, adjusted difference = -5.4 PP), having a personal doctor (74 percent vs 80 percent, adjusted difference = -3.1 PP), and having a foot (63 percent vs 80 percent, adjusted difference = -12.8 PP) or eye examination (61 percent vs 73 percent, adjusted difference = -12.6 PP) for diabetic patients, and increased probability of being unable to see a doctor due to cost (44 percent vs 9 percent, adjusted difference = 27.9 PP) and having diabetes affect the eyes (22 percent vs 19 percent, adjusted difference = 8.0 PP) at α = 0.05.
conclusionsHigher levels of unmet social needs were associated with poorer access to and quality of care among low-income adults. Addressing social needs both inside and outside of health care settings may help mitigate these negative effects. Additional research on if and how to effectively do so is critical.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.