Informing Policy through Data: Food Insecurity and Worsening Health Outcomes in Low Income Oregon Populations

42 pagesFood insecurity plagues the globe, affecting hundreds of millions of people. There are many different levels of food insecurity spanning from acute to those living in deep famine. This issue is one that needs to be solved globally but informed by community research and policy. Further, food insecurity can exacerbate the challenges individuals and families experience, especially regarding one’s health. Emergency department visits tend to be some of the most expensive utilizations of healthcare that individuals and the government are faced with in the United States. To reduce spending in this sector it is important to understand the underlying barriers reducing access to healthcare options outside of the emergency department. This thesis explores community surveys surrounding food insecurity and health outcomes, defined by visits to the emergency department, with the layer of demographics to understand the complexities and relationships between food insecurity and health outcomes within Oregon low-income populations. I hypothesize that there is a correlation between food insecurity and worsening health outcomes and that this relationship will be more prevalent in systemically marginalized communities within America. The work in this thesis suggests that being food insecure and identifying as non-White are positively correlated with increased visits and probability of visiting the emergency department within a year