Mental, Substance Use Disorder Health Care Use Increased With Food Insecurity
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, July 24, 2023 -- Children and adolescents living in food-insecure households have greater use of health services for mental and substance use disorders, according to a study published online July 24 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
Kelly K. Anderson, Ph.D., from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues examined the association between household food insecurity and contact with health services for mental or substance use disorders among children and adolescents in Ontario, using health administrative data linked to five waves of the Canadian Community Health Survey. Data were included for 32,321 children and adolescents, of whom 16.1 percent were living in food-insecure households.
The researchers found that 9.0 and 0.6 percent of the total sample had an outpatient contact and an acute care contact, respectively, for a mental or substance use disorder. The prevalence rates of outpatient contacts and acute care contacts for a mental or substance use disorder were 55 and 74 percent higher, respectively, for children and adolescents in food-insecure households; however, contacts for substance use disorders were uncommon.
"The coexistence of household food insecurity and service use for mental and substance use disorders here is problematic, given that both of these conditions have each been found to have negative consequences for social, educational, and developmental outcomes among children and adolescents," Anderson said in a statement.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted July 2023
Read this next
Bidirectional Link ID'd for Change in Depressive Symptoms, Memory Change
THURSDAY, June 13, 2024 -- A linear change in depressive symptoms is associated with accelerated memory change and vice versa in adults aged 50 years or older, according to a...
Positive Psychology Intervention Aids Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Survivors
THURSDAY, June 13, 2024 -- A telephone-delivered positive psychology intervention (Positive Affect for the Transplantation of Hematopoietic stem cells intervention [PATH]) is...
Exposure to Depressive Symptoms Linked to Worse Cognitive Function
WEDNESDAY, June 12, 2024 -- Exposure to elevated depressive symptoms starting in young adulthood is associated with worse cognitive function over midlife, with the association...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.