Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Its Associated Factors Among Ambulatory Hand Patients in a Large Metropolitan Area.

Purpose: Food insecurity (FI) is recognized as an important social determinant of health (SDH) that may disproportionately affect orthopedic patients. However, there are limited publications evaluating FI within the orthopedic hand population. The objective of this study is to evaluate the incidence of FI among hand clinic patients to identify key SDHs that may inform targeted interventions and improve clinical care for patients with hand pathologies. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted using patient surveys at outpatient orthopedic hand clinics at an academic institution. Adults ≥18 years with hand or distal upper-extremity pathology were included; excluded were pediatric patients and patients with injuries proximal to the elbow, concomitant nonupper extremity injuries, malignancy, or chronic neuropathy/pain. Surveys included Household Food Security Survey-6 for FI, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for anxiety and depression, Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand ( Results: Of the screened patients, 21% were FI. Those with low or very low food security had higher average scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Conclusions: This study shows an association between patients experiencing FI and factors known to affect outcomes such as frailty, depression, and anxiety. This is revealed further by a statistically significant difference in Type of study/level of evidence: Symptom Prevalence Study IV.