Food, housing, financial insecurity may contribute to CVD risk
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Food, housing and financial insecurity each greatly increased the odds of CVD, according to data presented at the virtual American College of Cardiology Scientific Session.
“We are very focused on addressing certain cardiovascular risk factors, but we forget about factors such as food, housing and financial security that often play a major role in the development of cardiovascular disease,” Tarang Parekh, MBBS, assistant researcher in the department of health administration and policy at George Mason University, said in a press release. “We are not investing enough to address these issues. We [must] start addressing patients’ problems from a broader perspective in order to better reduce the toll of cardiovascular diseases.”
Parekh and colleagues analyzed more than 400,000 participants from 17 states who appeared in the 2017 CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, of whom 8.8% had CVD, defined as MI, CAD, congestive heart disease or stroke.
Compared with those without CVD, those with it had higher rates of food insecurity (27.5% vs. 21.2%), housing insecurity (14.5% vs. 8.78%) and financial insecurity (18.2% vs. 8.32%), Parekh and colleagues found.
After adjustment for demographics and risk factors, the researchers found that participants with food insecurity (OR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.28-1.77), housing insecurity (OR = 1.54; 95% CI, 1.28-1.85), financial insecurity (OR = 2.14; 95% CI, 1.73-2.66) and health care access hardship (OR = 1.47; 95% CI, 1.31-1.61) had elevated odds for CVD.
“Recently, health care systems have been considering adding questions relevant to social determinants of health to electronic health records, which would be a really good step,” Parekh said in the release. “In addition, some physicians have started asking questions about the challenges patients may be facing in terms of food, housing and finances and collaborating with nonprofit [and community] organizations to address these issues in addition to other cardiovascular risk factors a patient has.” – by Erik Swain
Reference:
Parekh T, et al. Abstract 1313-109. Presented at: American College of Cardiology Scientific Session; March 28-30, 2020 (virtual meeting).
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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