Precarity and health: Theorizing the intersection of multiple material-need insecurities, stigma, and illness among women in the United States

Positive PTSD Screening and Its Health Correlates in Patients With HIV in Urban Primary Care Settings

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is underdiagnosed and undertreated in primary care, especially among African American individuals. The current study assessed documentation rates of PTSD and clinical health correlates among 135 predominantly African American patients with HIV and positive PTSD screens in a primary care unit. The Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) and a retrospective chart review of 135 patients with HIV were conducted. On the PCPTSD-5 (cut point of 3), approximately one half of patients (49.6%; n = 67) had probable PTSD; however, only 11.9% of patients (n = 16) had a chart diagnosis of PTSD. A positive PTSD screen was associated with higher rates of depression and insomnia, but not anxiety, alcohol use, drug use, or pain in patients with HIV. Multi-morbidity of HIV, major depression, and positive PTSD screens was associated with increased risk for asthma, number of medical diagnoses, depression, insomnia, and anxiety. Findings highlight the need for trauma-informed care in primary care settings for people with PTSD and HIV. Larger samples are warranted to further explore health correlates of PTSD. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 62(8), 25-36.].

Systematic Review: HIV, Aging, and Housing-A North American Perspective, 2012-2023

Advances in anti-retroviral therapy (ART) have decreased mortality rates and subsequently led to a rise in the number of HIV-positive people living longer. The housing experiences of this new population of interest-older adults (50 years and older) living with HIV-are under-researched. Understanding the housing experiences and unmet needs of older people with HIV can better provide comprehensive care services for them. This study's systematic review evaluated the peer-reviewed literature reporting housing access/insecurity/assistance/options, housing impact, and unmet needs of older individuals living with HIV in North America from 2012 to 2023. Furthermore, Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA), a text-mining technique, and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) for text clustering were utilized to examine unstructured data from the abstracts selected from the review. The goal was to allow for a better understanding of the relationships between terms in the articles and the identification of emerging public health key themes affecting older adults living with HIV. The results of text clustering yielded two clusters focusing on (1) improvements to housing and healthcare services access and policies and (2) unmet needs-social support, mental health, finance, food, and sexuality insecurities. Topic modeling demonstrated four topics, which we themed to represent (1) a holistic care approach; (2) insecurities-food, financial, sexuality, and other basic needs; (3) access to housing and treatment/care; and (4) homelessness and HIV-related health outcomes. Stable housing, food, and healthcare services access and availability are critical elements to incorporating comprehensive, holistic healthcare for older adults living with HIV. The aging population requires high-priority policies for accessible and equitable healthcare. Clinicians and policymakers should address individual barriers, adopt a patient-centered approach, increase doctor visits, provide competency training, ensure long-term follow-up, involve families, and improve patient education in care management, contributing to HIV/AIDS geriatric care models.

Critical decisions: A mixed-methods study of decision-making among diverse gynecologic cancer patients considering therapeutic clinical trial enrollment

OBJECTIVE

Participation in therapeutic clinical trials does not reflect the diversity of gynecologic cancer patients, limiting access to novel therapeutics and generalizability of results. Reasons for inequities in participation among historically underrepresented populations remain undertheorized, as studies have shown equal willingness to participate among groups. We sought to apply a precarity framework to conceptualize the factors that impact patients' desire to enroll, to improve equity in gynecologic oncology clinical trial participation.

METHODS

Gynecologic cancer patients at a single tertiary care facility in the Southwestern United States who discussed participation in therapeutic clinical trial with their oncology provider from 2020 to 2021 were identified. Enrolled participants completed surveys and qualitative interviews regarding treatment experiences and decision-making. Oncology providers completed parallel surveys at the time of their patient's enrollment. Descriptive statistics and thematic coding were used to analyze data.

RESULTS

30 patients were enrolled and participated in surveys and interviews. No differences were found in quantitative data assessing shared decision-making and patient-centered communication between those who enrolled and those who did not. Qualitative data demonstrated that patients who declined trial enrollment expressed concerns regarding uncertainty and loss of control, independence in decision-making, and significant resource challenges and financial toxicity of cancer treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified a constellation of factors that contribute to desire to enroll in clinical trials, that we describe using the framework of precarity. Through identification of precarious patients and mitigation of burdens, we anticipate improved enrollment and retention in therapeutic clinical trials among diverse gynecologic oncology patients.

Complementing the United States Household Food Security Survey Module with Items Reflecting Social Unacceptability

BACKGROUND

Social unacceptability of food access is part of the lived experience of food insecurity but is not assessed as part of the United States Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM).

OBJECTIVES

The objectives were as follows: 1) to determine the psychometric properties of 2 additional items on social unacceptability in relation to the HFSSM items and 2) to test whether these 2 items provided added predictive accuracy to that of the HFSSM items for mental health outcomes.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data used were from the Intersection of Material-Need Insecurities and HIV and Cardiovascular Health substudy of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study/Women's Interagency HIV Study Combined Cohort Study. Data on the 10-item HFSSM and 2 new items reflecting social unacceptability were collected between Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 from 1342 participants from 10 United States cities. The 2 social unacceptability items were examined psychometrically in relation to the HFSSM-10 items using models from item response theory. Linear and logistic regression was used to examine prediction of mental health measured by the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale and the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale.

RESULTS

The social unacceptability items were affirmed throughout the range of severity of food insecurity but with increasing frequency at higher severity of food insecurity. From item response theory models, the subconstructs reflected in the HFSSM-10 and the subconstruct of social unacceptability were distinct, not falling into one dimension. Regression models confirmed that social unacceptability was distinct from the subconstructs reflected in the HFSSM-10. The social unacceptability items as a separate scale explained more (∼1%) variation in mental health than when combined with the HFSSM-10 items in a single scale, and the social unacceptability subconstruct explained more (∼1%) variation in mental health not explained by the HFSSM-10.

CONCLUSIONS

Two social unacceptability items used as a separate scale along with the HFSSM-10 predicted mental health more accurately than did the HFSSM-10 alone.

Intersectional Stigma, Fear of Negative Evaluation, Depression, and ART Adherence Among Women Living with HIV Who Engage in Substance Use: A Latent Class Serial Mediation Analysis

Women Living with HIV (WLHIV) who use substances face stigma related to HIV and substance use (SU). The relationship between the intersection of these stigmas and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART), as well as the underlying mechanisms, remains poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the association between intersectional HIV and SU stigma and ART adherence, while also exploring the potential role of depression and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) by other people in explaining this association. We analyzed data from 409 WLHIV collected between April 2016 and April 2017, Using Multidimensional Latent Class Item Response Theory analysis. We identified five subgroups (i.e., latent classes [C]) of WLHIV with different combinations of experienced SU and HIV stigma levels: (C1) low HIV and SU stigma; (C2) moderate SU stigma; (C3) higher HIV and lower SU stigma; (C4) moderate HIV and high SU stigma; and (C5) high HIV and moderate SU stigma. Medication adherence differed significantly among these classes. Women in the class with moderate HIV and high SU stigma had lower adherence than other classes. A serial mediation analysis suggested that FNE and depression symptoms are mechanisms that contribute to explaining the differences in ART adherence among WLHIV who experience different combinations of intersectional HIV and SU stigma. We suggest that FNE is a key intervention target to attenuate the effect of intersectional stigma on depression symptoms and ART adherence, and ultimately improve health outcomes among WLHIV.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Residential Mobility and Experience of Client Violence Among Women Who Exchange Sex in Baltimore

Residential mobility remains an underexplored yet critical construct that may influence the risk of violence among women who exchange sex. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between residential mobility and experience of client-perpetrated physical or sexual violence among women who exchange sex in Baltimore, Maryland. Participants were at least at 18 years of age, were cisgender women, reported having engaged in transactional sex three or more times within the last 3 months, and were willing to be contacted for 6-, 12-, and 18-month follow-up visits. Analyses of responses from 370 women who exchange sex participating in at least one study visit were conducted. Unadjusted and adjusted Poisson regression models of the association over time between residential mobility and recent experience of physical or sexual violence were fit. Generalized estimating equations with an exchangeable correlation structure and robust variance estimation were used to account for clustering of participants' responses over time. Findings demonstrated that those who had lived in at least four places in the past 6 months had a 39% increased risk of client-perpetrated physical violence (aRR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.07-1.80; p < .05) and a 63% increased risk of sexual violence (aRR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.14-2.32; p < .01) compared to their less-mobile counterparts. These findings provide necessary evidence of correlations over time between residential mobility and experience of client-perpetrated violence among women who exchange sex. Strengthening our understanding of how residential mobility intersects with violence is critical for the development of public health interventions that are relevant to women's lives and needs. Future interventions should explore including residential mobility, a critical pillar of housing instability, with efforts to address client-perpetrated violence.

Assessing Patient and Community-Level Social Factors; The Synergistic Effect of Social Needs and Social Determinants of Health on Healthcare Utilization at a Multilevel Academic Healthcare System

We investigated the role of both individual-level social needs and community-level social determinants of health (SDOH) in explaining emergency department (ED) utilization rates. We also assessed the potential synergies between the two levels of analysis and their combined effect on patterns of ED visits. We extracted electronic health record (EHR) data between July 2016 and June 2020 for 1,308,598 unique Maryland residents who received care at Johns Hopkins Health System, of which 28,937 (2.2%) patients had at least one documented social need. There was a negative correlation between median household income in a neighborhood with having a social need such as financial resource strain, food insecurity, and residential instability (correlation coefficient: -0.05, -0.01, and - 0.06, p = 0, respectively). In a multilevel model with random effects after adjusting for other factors, living in a more disadvantaged neighborhood was found to be significantly associated with ED utilization statewide and within Baltimore City (OR: 1.005, 95% CI: 1.003-1.007 and 1.020, 95% CI: 1.017-1.022, respectively). However, individual-level social needs appeared to enhance the statewide effect of living in a more disadvantaged neighborhood with the OR for the interaction term between social needs and SDOH being larger, and more positive, than SDOH alone (OR: 1.012, 95% CI: 1.011-1.014). No such moderation was found in Baltimore City. To our knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts by a major academic healthcare system to assess the combined impact of patient-level social needs in association with community-level SDOH on healthcare utilization and can serve as a baseline for future studies using EHR data linked to population-level data to assess such synergistic association.

Eliminating Food Insecurity in the USA: a Target Trial Emulation Using Observational Data to Estimate Effects on Health-Related Quality of Life

BACKGROUND

Food insecurity is associated with many aspects of poor health. However, trials of food insecurity interventions typically focus on outcomes of interest to funders, such as healthcare use, cost, or clinical performance metrics, rather than quality of life outcomes that may be prioritized by individuals who experience food insecurity.

OBJECTIVE

To emulate a trial of a food insecurity elimination intervention, and quantify its estimated effects on health utility, health-related quality of life, and mental health.

DESIGN

Target trial emulation using longitudinal, nationally representative data, from the USA, 2016-2017.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 2013 adults in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey screened positive for food insecurity, representing 32 million individuals.

MAIN MEASURES

Food insecurity was assessed using the Adult Food Security Survey Module. The primary outcome was the SF-6D (Short-Form Six Dimension) measure of health utility. Secondary outcomes were mental component score (MCS) and physical component score (PCS) of the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey (a measure of health-related quality of life), Kessler 6 (K6) psychological distress, and Patient Health Questionnaire 2-item (PHQ2) depressive symptoms.

KEY RESULTS

We estimated that food insecurity elimination would improve health utility by 80 QALYs per 100,000 person-years, or 0.008 QALYs per person per year (95% CI 0.002 to 0.014, p = 0.005), relative to the status quo. We also estimated that food insecurity elimination would improve mental health (difference in MCS [95% CI]: 0.55 [0.14 to 0.96]), physical health (difference in PCS: 0.44 [0.06 to 0.82]), psychological distress (difference in K6: -0.30 [-0.51 to -0.09]), and depressive symptoms (difference in PHQ-2: -0.13 [-0.20 to  -0.07]).

CONCLUSIONS

Food insecurity elimination may improve important, but understudied, aspects of health. Evaluations of food insecurity interventions should holistically investigate their potential to improve many different aspects of health.

Mental health and HIV risk differs by co-occurring structural vulnerabilities among women who sell sex

Female sex workers (FSW) experience many structural vulnerabilities (SV; e.g., violence, economic insecurity) which contribute to increased risk of HIV and mental distress. However, little research has examined how SV co-occur to shape HIV risk, and none have studied mental distress. Among FSW (n = 385) in Baltimore, Maryland, latent class analysis of five binary indicators (housing insecurity; financial dependence on others; client-perpetrated physical or sexual violence; food insecurity) determined classes of SV and differential HIV risk behavior and mental health outcomes. A 3-class model fit the data best: minimal SV (i.e., low probabilities of all indicators); material needs (i.e., housing, food insecurity); and high SV (i.e., high probability of all indicators). Compared to minimal SV, high SV and material needs had significantly greater adjusted probability of drug injection and poorer adjusted depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and mental distress scores. The high SV class had significantly higher probability of reporting condomless sex with clients compared to material needs and minimal SV. Results show the deleterious effect of co-occurring SV on HIV risk behaviors among FSW with particular emphasis on co-occurring food and housing insecurities. This is the first study of co-occurring SV on mental health outcomes in this key population.

Precarious Lives, Precarious Treatments: Making Drug Treatment Work in Northern Myanmar

We explore how precarious livelihoods intersect with precarious treatments for heroin dependency in a setting affected by longstanding conflicts and an illicit drug economy as well as by recent events of pandemic and political change. Working with 33 qualitative interviews with people who inject drugs in Kachin State, northern Myanmar, we explore how drug dependency treatment, especially methadone substitution, is made to work in efforts to sustain everyday livelihoods. Our analysis attends to the work that is done to enable therapeutic trajectories to emerge as "generous constraints" in precarity. We trace methadone substitution as an emergent intervention of livelihood survival.

Resilience and Optimism as Moderators of the Negative Effects of Stigma on Women Living with HIV

Resilience and optimism may not only have main effects on health outcomes, but may also moderate and buffer negative effects of stressors. We examined whether dispositional resilience and optimism moderate the associations between HIV-related stigma in health care settings and health-related outcomes (trust in HIV health care providers and depression symptoms) among women living with HIV (WLHIV). One thousand four hundred five WLHIV in nine US cities completed validated questionnaires for cross-sectional analyses. Higher self-reported experienced and anticipated stigma and lower resilience and optimism were associated with higher depression symptoms and with lower trust in HIV providers. Importantly, resilience moderated the effects of experienced stigma (but not of anticipated stigma): When resilience was high, the association of experienced stigma with higher depression symptoms and lower trust in HIV providers was weaker compared with when resilience was low. Further, significant moderation effects suggested that when optimism was high, experienced and anticipated stigma was both less strongly associated with depression symptoms and with lower trust in one's HIV care providers compared with when optimism was low. Thus, the effects of experienced stigma on depression symptoms and provider trust were moderated by both resilience and optimism, but the effects of anticipated stigma were moderated only by optimism. Our findings suggest that in addition to their main effects, resilience and optimism may function as buffers against the harmful effects of stigma in health care settings. Therefore, optimism and resilience may be valuable intervention targets to reduce depression symptoms or improve trust in providers among populations that experience or anticipate stigma, such as WLHIV.

Social Determinants of Severe Injury Among Pediatric Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study

INTRODUCTION

This study sought to identify social determinants of health (SDH) patterns associated with severe pediatric injuries.

METHOD

We used cross-sectional data from children (≤18 years) admitted to a pediatric trauma center between March and November 2021 (n = 360). We used association rule mining (ARM) to explore SDH patterns associated with severe injury. We then used ARM-identified SDH patterns in multivariable logistic regressions of severe injury, controlling for patient and caregiver demographics. Finally, we compared results to naive hierarchical logistic regressions that considered SDH types as primary exposures rather than SDH patterns.

RESULTS

We identified three SDH patterns associated with severe injury: (1) having child care needs in combination with neighborhood violence, (2) caregiver lacking health insurance, and (3) caregiver lacking social support. In the ARM-informed logistic regression models, the presence of a child care need in combination with neighborhood violence was associated with an increased odds of severe injury (aOR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.01-7.62), as was caregiver lacking health insurance (aOR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.02-5.16). In the naive hierarchical logistic regressions, no SDH type in isolation was associated with severe injury.

DISCUSSION

Our exploratory analyses suggest that considering the co-occurrence of negative SDH that families experience rather than isolated SDH may provide greater insights into prevention strategies for severe pediatric injury.

The impact of COVID-19 and housing insecurity on lower-income Black women

During the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple groups faced increased risks for negative health and mortality. Using an intersectional framework, the current study explores how the global pandemic impacted lower-income women living in the United States through access to housing. Findings indicate several challenges  remaining stably housed during the pandemic. Major themes included: (1) High-Risk Survival Economies, (2) Landlord Stress, Deception, and Exclusion, (3) Landlord Harassment, (4) Low Levels of Formal and Informal Support, (5) Housing as a Health Risk Factor, and (6) Resilience. These themes are explored through four in-depth narrative accounts. Implications for health and policy are discussed. Future research that examines and engages with both direct (e.g., material scarcity) and indirect (e.g., discrimination) pathways that connect housing to health are strongly encouraged.

Household water and food insecurity negatively impacts self-reported physical and mental health in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Introduction

Household food insecurity and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) contribute to ill health. However, the interactions between household food insecurity, WASH and health have been rarely assessed concurrently. This study investigated compounded impacts of household food insecurity and WASH on self-reported physical and mental health of adults in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta.

Materials and methods

This cross-sectional survey interviewed 552 households in one northern and one southern province of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The survey incorporated previously validated tools such as the Short Form 12-item Health Survey, Household Food Insecurity Assessment Scale, and the Access and Behavioural Outcome Indicators for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. Physical and mental health were quantified using the physical health composite score (PCS) and mental health composite score (MCS), respectively. These measures were the dependent variables of interest for this study.

Results

Statistical analysis revealed that household food insecurity and using <50 litres of water per person per day (pppd) were independently associated with lower PCS (p<0.05), after adjusting for socio-economic confounders. Household food insecurity and lack of food availability, using <50 litres of water pppd, and the use of untreated drinking water were associated with lower MCS (p<0.05), with water usage being an effect modifier of the relationship between household food insecurity and MCS. The results indicate that being food insecure and having limited potable quality water had a compounding effect on MCS, compared to being individually either food insecure or having limited water.

Conclusion

This study is one of only a few that have established a link between potable water availability, food insecurity and poorer physical and mental health. The results also indicate a need to validate national data with fine-scale investigations in less populous regions to evaluate national initiatives with local populations that may be at higher risk. Adopting joint dual-action policies for interventions that simultaneously address water and food insecurity should result in larger improvements in health, particularly mental health, compared to targeting either food or water insecurity in isolation.

Exposure to High Precariousness Prevalence Negatively Impacts Drug Prescriptions of General Practitioners to Precarious and Non-Precarious Populations: A Retrospective Pharmaco-Epidemiological Study

(1) Background: Precarious patients are more difficult to care for due to low literacy rates and poor adherence to treatment and hospitalization. These difficulties have detrimental effects on general practitioners (GPs), deteriorating medical communication, advice, diagnoses, and drug prescriptions. To better understand how precariousness affects primary care, we tested whether, among GPs, exposure to high precariousness prevalence more severely impacts drug prescriptions to precarious and non-precarious populations compared to low precariousness prevalence. Materials and methods: This pharmaco-epidemiological study, using linear regression analyses, compared the defined daily dose of 20 drugs prescribed by GPs to precarious and non-precarious patients in four French regions with low and high precariousness prevalence in 2015. (2) Findings: Exposure to high precariousness prevalence significantly impacted the prescriptions of nine medications to precarious patients and two medications to non-precarious patients, and distributed into three interaction patterns. (3) Interpretation: The selective over-prescription of drugs with easy intake modalities to precarious patients probably reflects GPs’ attempts to compensate for poor patient compliance. In contrast, the under-prescription of drugs targeting fungal infections in precarious populations and diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in non-precarious populations was seemingly due to a breakdown of empathy and professional exhaustion, causing medical neglect.

Mental Health Mediates the Association Between Gender-Based Violence and HIV Treatment Engagement in US Women

BACKGROUND

Gender-based violence (GBV) is associated with poorer engagement in HIV care and treatment. However, there is a dearth of research on the psychological (eg, mental health) and structural (eg, food insecurity) factors that mediate and moderate this association. GBV could lead to poor mental health, which in turn affects adherence, whereas food insecurity could worsen the effect of GBV on engagement in care. This study uses data from the Women's Interagency HIV Study to address these gaps.

METHODS

Women completed 6 assessments from 2013 to 2016 on GBV, mental health, food insecurity, adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and missed HIV care appointments in the past 6 months. Multilevel logistic regression models estimated associations between GBV and engagement in care and whether associations were mediated by depression, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moderated by food insecurity.

RESULTS

GBV was associated with higher odds of suboptimal adherence (adjusted odds ratio: 1.88; 95% confidence interval: 1.24 to 2.87) and missed appointments (adjusted odds ratio: 1.76; 95% confidence interval: 1.16 to 2.67). The association between GBV and adherence was mediated by depressive symptoms, GAD, and PTSD, accounting for 29.7%, 15.0%, and 16.5%, respectively, of the total association. The association between GBV and missed appointments was mediated by depression and GAD, but not PTSD, with corresponding figures of 25.2% and 19.7%. Associations did not differ by food insecurity.

CONCLUSIONS

GBV is associated with suboptimal engagement in care, which may be explained by mental health. Interventions should address women's mental health needs, regardless of food insecurity, when improving engagement in HIV care.

Food insufficiency and mental health service utilisation in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the association between food insufficiency and mental health service utilisation in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study. Multiple logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between food insufficiency and mental health service utilisation.

SETTING

US Census Household Pulse Survey data collected in October 2020.

PARTICIPANTS

Nationally representative sample of 68 611 US adults.

RESULTS

After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, experiencing food insufficiency was associated with higher odds of unmet mental health need (adjusted OR (AOR) 2·90; 95 % CI 2·46, 3·43), receiving mental health counselling or therapy (AOR 1·51; 95 % CI 1·24, 1·83) and psychotropic medication use (AOR 1·56; 95 % CI 1·35, 1·80). Anxiety and depression symptoms mediated most of the association between food insufficiency and unmet mental health need but not the associations between food insufficiency and either receiving mental health counselling/therapy or psychotropic medication use.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinicians should regularly screen patients for food insufficiency, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Expanding access to supplemental food programmes may help to mitigate the need for higher mental health service utilisation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clustering of Social Determinants of Health Among Patients

Introduction/Objectives:

Many health systems screen patients for social determinants of health and refer patients with social needs to community organizations for assistance. Understanding how social determinants cluster together may help guide assistance programs.

Methods:

This study examined patients screened by The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio for 9 social determinants, including food insecurity, financial strain, transportation limitations, inability to pay for housing or utilities, intimate partner violence, social isolation, infrequent physical activity, daily stress, and lack of internet access. Clustering analyses were performed to determine which combination of social determinants occurred together more often than would be expected if each determinant were independent of each other.

Results:

Among 23 161 screened patients, there were 19 dyads, 13 triads, and one tetrad of social determinants that clustered together. The most prevalent triad of food insecurity, social isolation, and inability to pay for housing or utilities occurred among 1095 patients but would be expected to occur among 284 patients, for an observed/expected ratio of 3.85 (95% confidence interval 3.64-4.07). In multivariate analyses, younger, Black, and lower income patients were 2 to 3 times more likely to have this triad compared to older, White, and wealthier patients.

Conclusions:

Social determinants of health frequently cluster together, and such clustering is associated with patient demographic characteristics. Further work is needed to determine how social determinant clusters impact health and cost outcomes and to develop programs that can address multiple co-existing social needs.

Dietary health in the context of poverty and uncertainty around the social determinants of health

Lower household income has been consistently associated with poorer diet quality and poorer dietary health outcomes. Households experiencing poverty find themselves unable to afford enough food, and the food that they can afford is often poor quality, energy dense and low in nutrients. However, the relationship between diet, poverty and health is complex. Not everyone on a low income has a poor diet. Poverty is about more than low incomes and it is not a uniform experience. Particular aspects of the experience of poverty have implications for diet and dietary health. It is increasingly apparent that uncertainty is one of those aspects. Recession, welfare policy, employment trends and widening inequality have created more uncertainty for those on low incomes. In the context of heightened uncertainty, all aspects of household food provisioning - including budgeting, shopping, storage, meal planning and cooking - are more difficult and sometimes impossible. This review will draw on research about food practices and dietary health in low-income neighbourhoods to explore the ways in which experiences of prolonged uncertainty shape dietary practices and impact health and well-being.

Household Water and Food Insecurity Are Positively Associated with Poor Mental and Physical Health among Adults Living with HIV in Western Kenya

BACKGROUND

Household food insecurity (FI) and water insecurity (WI) are prevalent public health issues that can co-occur. Few studies have concurrently assessed their associations with health outcomes, particularly among people living with HIV.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to investigate the associations between FI and WI and how they relate to physical and mental health.

METHODS

Food-insecure adult smallholder farmers living with HIV in western Kenya were recruited to participate in a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a multisectoral agricultural and asset loan intervention. We used baseline data on experiences of FI (using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, range: 0-27) and WI (using a modified scale developed for this region, range: 0-51) in the prior month (n = 716). Outcomes included probable depression (using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist), fatigue and diarrhea in the prior month, and overall mental and physical health (using the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey, range: 0-100). We first assessed Pearson correlations between FI, WI, and sociodemographic characteristics. We then developed 3 regressions for each health outcome (control variables and FI; control variables and WI; control variables, FI, and WI) and compared model fit indexes.

RESULTS

Correlations between household FI, WI, and wealth were low, meaning they measure distinct constructs. FI and WI were associated with numerous physical and mental health outcomes; accounting for both resource insecurities typically provided the best model fit. For instance, when controlling for FI, each 10-point higher WI score was associated with a 6.42-point lower physical health score (P < 0.001) and 2.92 times greater odds of probable depression (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Assessing both FI and WI is important for correctly estimating their relation with health outcomes. Interventions that address food- and water-related issues among persons living with HIV concurrently will likely be more effective at improving health than those addressing a single resource insecurity. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02815579.

Situating adherence to medicines: The embodied practices and hinterlands of HIV antiretrovirals

Adherence to medicines tends to be envisaged as a matter of actors' reasoned actions, though there is increasing emphasis on situating adherence as a practice materialised in everyday routines. Drawing on the qualitative interview accounts of Black African women living with HIV in London, UK, we treat adherence to HIV medicines as not only situated in the practices of the immediate and everyday but also relating to a hinterland of historical and social relations. We move from accounts which situate adherence as an embodied matter of affect in the present, to accounts which locate adherence as a condition of precarity, which also trace to enactments of time and place in the past. Adherence is therefore envisaged as a multiple and fluid effect which is made-up in-the-now and in relation to a hinterland of practices which locate elsewhere.

Food Insufficiency and Mental Health in the U.S. During the COVID-19 Pandemic

INTRODUCTION

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rates of food insecurity and mental illness have been projected to increase in the U.S. owing to significant social and economic disruption. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of food insufficiency (often the most extreme form of food insecurity), the correlates of food insufficiency, and the associations between food insufficiency and symptoms of poor mental health in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data from 63,674 participants of the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey were collected and analyzed in 2020. Multiple Poisson regression models were used to estimate associations with food insufficiency.

RESULTS

Food insufficiency rose from 8.1% to 10.0% from March to June 2020. Factors associated with food insufficiency included lower age, Black/African American or Latinx race/ethnicity, being unmarried, larger household size, recent employment loss, income below the federal poverty line, and lower education (all p<0.001). Food insufficiency was independently associated with all symptoms of poor mental health, adjusting for socioeconomic and demographic factors (adjusted RRs ranged from 1.16 to 1.42, all p<0.001). The association between food insufficiency and poor mental health was attenuated among people who received free groceries or meals.

CONCLUSIONS

Food insufficiency has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and affects vulnerable populations, placing individuals at higher risk for symptoms of poor mental health. Particularly in the current crisis, clinicians should regularly screen patients for food insufficiency and mental health outcomes as well as provide support in accessing appropriate resources.

Trauma exposure, PTSD, and suboptimal HIV medication adherence among marginalized individuals connected to public HIV care in Miami

Individuals living with HIV report disproportionately high levels of trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms, both which have been associated with suboptimal ART adherence. Often conflated, the question arises as to which construct is driving subsequent HIV self-care behavior. Given the HIV disparities among Black and Hispanic/Latinx individuals, and that Miami is a geographic region with a high racial/ethnic minority make up and a unique socioeconomic environment, it is important to explore factors related to HIV outcomes in Miami to mitigate its uncontrolled epidemic. This study aimed to examine the association of trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, and relevant additional key factors with adherence to ART among a sample of majority Black and Hispanic/Latinx individuals who are economically marginalized receiving public HIV care in Miami, FL (N = 1237) via a cross-sectional survey. Sequential linear regression was used to examine the study aim in four blocks: (1) trauma, (2) PTSD symptoms, and key covariates of ART adherence including (3) depression and substance use (potential psychological covariates), and (4) indicators of socioeconomic status (potential structural covariates). In the first block, trauma exposure was associated with worse adherence. However, in the second block, the association with trauma dropped and PTSD was significantly associated with worse adherence. Of note, for those experiencing high levels of trauma exposure, adherence was negatively impacted regardless of PTSD. When other key factors associated with adherence were entered in the third and fourth blocks, neither trauma exposure nor PTSD were uniquely significant. In this final model, depression, substance use, and unstable housing were uniquely associated with worse adherence. Trauma-informed models of HIV care that holistically address co-occurring factors are warranted to cater to communities with HIV health disparities and keep them from falling off the HIV care continuum.

The last Black man with HIV in San Francisco: the potential role of gentrification on HIV getting to zero achievements

San Francisco was the first city in the USA to develop a Getting to Zero HIV elimination strategy. The cause of decreased HIV incidence has been attributed to the use of biomedical prevention methods, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and treatment as prevention (TasP). These strategies have benefitted White men who have sex with men (MSM), whose population has increased over the past decade. However, Black MSM in San Francisco continue to have higher HIV incidence and outmigration rates. We posit that the declining overall HIV incidence, including among White MSM, is not only explained by the use of TaSP and PrEP, but is also due to the declining Black population and rising HIV incidence among Black MSM, who have historically been more likely to acquire HIV due to structural, racial, and criminal justice-related factors than have White MSM.

'The Devil's Company': A Grounded Theory Study on Aging, Loneliness and Social Change Among 'Older Adult Children' in Rural Indonesia

Introduction: As a consequence of rising life expectancies, many families are no longer made up of one, but two simultaneously aging generations. This elderly parent-older adult child (OAC) dyad has emerged as a newly overserved yet little explored demographic phenomenon. Studies on this intergenerational aging dyad and the possible ramifications of when caregivers are simultaneously aging with care-receivers are scarce, especially in low and middle-income countries. This study explored the process by which rural Indonesian OACs experience their own aging, thereby gaining insights into how this newly evolving reality impacts the traditional ways of old-age care provision. Methods: This study has a qualitative design and draws on eight focus group discussions with 48 community-dwelling OACs (23 men, 25 women; mean age 64 years) in four rural villages in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. The theoretical framework was largely inspired by symbolic interactionism aided by the sensitizing concepts of social network deficits, interpersonal emotions, and the social construction of risks. Data were analyzed using Grounded Theory as outlined by Corbin and Strauss. Results: Respondents' accounts reflected four categories: 1) aging in a welt of chronic insecurity; 2) OACs: a generation "betwixt and between" expected demands and unmet expectations; 3) landscapes of loneliness; and 4) compromising against conventions. As depicted in a conceptual model, these categories interrelated with each other and were linked by a core category, "bargaining for a sense of security", which collectively summarized a process by which OACs' experienced their own course of aging. Conclusion: Our study provided insights into how and why loneliness emerged amidst the challenges of social and demographic transformations and how in response to this unconventional compromises were made, which affect both the networks of caretakers and the places of old-age care. It is doing so by including the perspectives of rural Indonesian OACs. The results showed how multiple intersecting negative experiences constrained the aging experiences of OACs and produced precarious aging trajectories. Our findings highlight the importance of old-age loneliness as an emerging public health and social problem by discussing how intrinsically this emotion was interwoven with social life.

Precarity and clinical determinants of healthcare-seeking behaviour and antibiotic use in rural Laos and Thailand

BACKGROUND

The social determinants of health are a decisive yet persistently understudied area for tackling global health challenges like antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Precarity is one determinant whose importance is increasingly recognised, which we define here as 'a form of pernicious self-dependence that undermines individuals' control over their own lives and limits their ability to flexibly respond to crises'. We aimed to assess the relationship between precarity, other forms of deprivation and healthcare-seeking behaviour by asking, 'What is the impact of precarity, marginalisation and clinical presentation on healthcare-seeking behaviour?' and 'Do patients experiencing precarious livelihoods have clinically less advisable healthcare-seeking behaviour?'

METHODS

We used healthcare-seeking behaviour census survey data from rural Thailand and Laos, wherein five rural communities were surveyed two times over a period of 3 months (2-month recall period). Using descriptive statistical and multivariate logistic regression analysis on the illness level, we studied precarity alongside clinical presentation, marginalisation and facilitating solutions during an illness (eg, health-related phone use) as determinants of healthcare-seeking behaviour in the form of healthcare access and antibiotic use.

RESULTS

The data included 1421 illness episodes from 2066 villagers. Patients in precarious circumstances were up to 44.9 percentage points more likely to misuse antibiotics in the presence of situational facilitators (predicted antibiotic misuse: 6.2% (95% CI: 0.9% to 11.4%) vs 51.1% (95% CI: 16.6% to 85.5%) for precarious circumstances with/without facilitation). Marginalisation was linked to lower antibiotic use, but this did not translate into clinically more advisable behaviour. Clinical presentation played only a minor role in determining healthcare access and antibiotic use.

CONCLUSIONS

This study underlines the importance of context and local livelihoods in tackling drug resistance. While supporting the growing emphasis on AMR-sensitive development policy, we call for future research to study systematically the healthcare-seeking behaviour impact of precarious livelihoods, social policy and community development initiatives.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT03241316.

Economic influences on population health in the United States: Toward policymaking driven by data and evidence

Atheendar S. Venkataramani and colleagues discuss economic factors and population health in the United States.