Lack of food increases hospital use by HIV-infected urban poor in SF

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/uoc--lof082112.php

Public release date: 22-Aug-2012
Contact: Jeff Sheehy
University of California - San Francisco
UCSF researchers found that poor HIV-infected individuals living in San Francisco are significantly more likely to visit emergency rooms and to have hospital stays if they lack access to food of sufficient quality and quantity for a healthy life

UCSF researchers found that poor HIV-infected individuals living in San Francisco are significantly more likely to visit emergency rooms and to have hospital stays if they lack access to food of sufficient quality and quantity for a healthy life.

"In the prior three months, a quarter of participants in the study reported an ER visit, and just over a tenth reported a hospitalization, which shows that we are dealing with a population with high levels of illness. But the food insecure people were even sicker than the food secure, which is consistent with their experiencing higher rates of chronic diseases," said the study's primary investigator, Sheri Weiser, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the UCSF HIV/AIDS Division at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

The findings are published online on August 22, 2012 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.