One in Four Adults With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Is Food Insecure

One in Four Adults With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Is Food Insecure

Food insecurity, the perception that food is not available, affects 11% of households in the United States; that is, about 1 in 9 households did not have enough food each day.¹ Experiences of food insecurity are associated with an unhealthy diet,² which increases the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, the major causes of chronic kidney disease (CKD).^2,3

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003–2004 to 2013–2014 were used to examine household food insecurity among adults with CKD. Among adults with advanced CKD (stages 3 and 4),* food insecurity—food insecure without hunger, food insecure with moderate hunger, and food insecure with severe hunger—increased over the decade. In 2013–2014, one-quarter of US adults with advanced CKD were food insecure. Raising awareness of food insecurity may help target interventions to improve the health of people with CKD.

Full = Food secure; Marginal = Food insecure without hunger; Poor = Food insecure with moderate hunger; Very poor = Food insecure with severe hunger. *Adults aged 20 years or older with an estimated glomerular filtration rate—a measure of kidney function—between 30–59 mL/min per 1.73 m2 (stage 3) or between 15–29 mL/min per 1.73 m2 (stage 4). References: 1 Coleman-Jensen A, Rabbitt MP, Gregory CA, Singh A. 2017. Household Food Security in the United States in 2016, ERR-237, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. 2 Leung C, Epel E, Ritchie L, et al. Food insecurity is inversely associated with diet quality of lower-income adults. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014;114(12):1943–53.e2. 3 Banerjee T, Crews D, Wesson D, et al; CDC CKD Surveillance Team. Food insecurity, CKD, and subsequent ESRD in US adults. Am J Kidney Dis. 2017;70(1):38–47.