Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42266090›Full record

ArticleJournal of hospital medicine2026

Food insecurity and hospital resource utilization.

Adolfo L Molina, Ariel Carpenter, Mary Orr, Samantha L Hanna, Dana Woodruff, Cynthia Deerman, Cassi Smola, Erin E Shaughnessy, Chang L Wu

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of hospital medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Adolfo L MolinaDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2461-4467
Ariel CarpenterDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Mary OrrDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Samantha L HannaDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8181-5599
Dana WoodruffDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Cynthia DeermanDivision of Social Work, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Cassi SmolaDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Erin E ShaughnessyDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4685-4648
Chang L WuDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFood insecurity (FI) is an important pediatric social risk factor associated with worse health outcomes. However, there is a paucity of data on FI's effects on hospitalized children and hospital-based reutilization.

methodsThis single-center, retrospective cohort study included children admitted between 2020 and 2023 to evaluate the effect of FI on hospital utilization (length of stay [LOS], emergency department [ED] revisits, and readmission). FI was identified using the two-question Hunger Vital Sign

resultsWe analyzed 31,553 pediatric hospitalizations in the analysis. Results demonstrated that patients in the missed/refused screening group had a significantly increased LOS, with a 73% increase in expected hospital duration (aIRR: 1.73; 95% confidence interval [CI]: (1.60-1.89) p < .0001) compared with the food-secure group. In contrast, no significant associations were found between documented FI and LOS, ED revisit, and 30-day readmission after adjusting for patient clustering.

conclusionsWhile the relationship between FI and utilization is multifactorial, these findings suggest that patients who are missed by or refuse screening represent a high-acuity cohort with significantly higher resource utilization. Addressing social risk during hospitalization remains an important opportunity for resource connection, and the high utilization among the unscreened population highlights a critical area for improving screening equity and clinical outreach.

Indexed as

Food InsecurityHospitalizationAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolEmergency Room VisitsEmergency Service, HospitalFemaleHumansInfantLength of StayMalePatient ReadmissionRetrospective Studies

Identifiers

PMID42266090
PMCPMC13534937

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.