AUTHOR=Choe Hwi , Pak Tae-Young 

TITLE=Food Insecurity, Healthcare Utilization, and Healthcare Expenditures: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 68 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2023.1605360

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2023.1605360

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=Objective: This study examines the longitudinal association between household food insecurity and health care utilization and expenditure.

Methods: A multi-wave longitudinal cohort study was conducted using the 2008-2019 and 2021 waves of the Korean Welfare Panel Study. The baseline data included participants aged ≥19 years with valid responses to the food insecurity and health care questionnaires in the 2008 wave (n=12,166). Health care outcomes encompassed outpatient visits, inpatient admissions, days hospitalized, and personal health care expenditure. Random effects Poisson and linear regressions were estimated.

Results: Severe food insecurity was associated with a higher incidence rate of outpatient visits (IRR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.12-1.17), days of hospitalization (IRR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.13-1.22), and inpatient admissions (IRR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.18-1.65). Moderate food insecurity was associated with 10.4% (β=-0.11; 95% CI, -0.14 to -0.07) or 238,276 KRW reductions in personal health care expenditures in the subsequent year.

Conclusion: Household food insecurity was linked to increased health care utilization and reduced personal health care expenditure among Korean adults. Our findings present opportunities to identify target populations for healthcare policies and interventions.