P2.084: Addressing Food Insecurity in Pediatric Nephrology Patients with Hypertension

Background: Food insecurity is a prevalent issue impacting 1 in 7 children in the United States. Within the District of Columbia, 13.6% of children are food insecure. Food insecurity describes the disproportionate inability to provide enough food to sustain one’s household, and is strongly impacted by social determinants of health. As such, food insecurity tends to be more prevalent in children who suffer from chronic conditions. Diet and nutrition are often a mainstay part of management for these conditions, especially in children with chronic kidney diseases and hypertension. For our project, we aim to better understand the incidence of food insecurity in our Pediatric Nephrology clinic located in Washington D.C., specifically in our patients with hypertension.

Methods: We are collecting data from patients seen in our pediatric nephrology clinic from January 2024 onward using a food insecurity screener from the Hunger Vital Signs questionnaire. Patients who screen positive for food insecurity and have a concurrent diagnosis for hypertension are provided with a food pharmacy prescription providing fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products, and canned proteins and vegetables. For each patient who receives a food distribution, we will measure blood pressure, weight, and BMI before they receive the food prescription and six months after. We will assess for significant changes or improvements in clinical outcomes through our intervention.

Results: We have thus far collected screeners from 729 patients seen at the pediatric nephrology clinic since January 2024. Of which, 179 screened positive for both food insecurity and hypertension and were eligible to receive our food prescription. Although we are in the early stages of data analysis, our initial results indicate that 26% of participants received their food prescription with preliminary findings showing improved blood pressure readings in a majority of these patients six months post-intervention. As we continue carrying out data collection and analyses for the remainder of our patients, we anticipate results to show similar trends of improved blood pressure measurements post-intervention.

Conclusion: Addressing food insecurity may alleviate barriers to healthy food access and improve health outcomes for children with chronic conditions such as hypertension. Although there are studies guiding interventions to address food insecurity in adult populations, there is a lack of research understanding the impact of these interventions in pediatric populations. Our preliminary results show that interventions addressing food insecurity may have beneficial effects for pediatric patients with chronic health conditions. We encourage others to expand this research, as further studies in pediatric communities are needed to assess the effects of food insecurity on children with chronic diagnoses and their health outcomes. Our goal is to use this data to encourage and inform future interventions, strategies, and policies to address food insecurity in pediatric communities.