Food security among black breast cancer survivors in Maryland: insights from an online pilot study.

Purpose: Food security, and reliable access to nutritious food, is essential for maintaining health yet remains elusive for many, including U.S. patients with breast cancer (BC). Research specifically focusing on public health consequences of food insecurity in BC survivors is limited. We addressed this gap by exploring the relationship between food security and various sociodemographic, clinical, and cancer-related factors among Black BC survivors in Maryland.
Methods: The parent study engaged Black female BC survivors in Maryland through digital campaigns and referrals, achieving 100 completed surveys. Food security was assessed through an online follow-up survey with the six-item short form from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), leading to a binary classification for analysis from raw scores. Statistical analysis involved descriptive analysis and Chi-square tests to explore the relationship between food security status, various BC risk factors, and follow-up survey response status.
Results: Of the 31 participants who participated in the follow-up survey, 11 (35.5%) were categorized as having low food security. We observed significant associations between food security status and both income (< $40,000; chi-square p = 0.004) and education levels (high school/GED; chi-square p = 0.004). In comparing respondents to non-respondents, significant differences in employment (p = 0.031) and health insurance status (p = 0.006) were observed.
Conclusion: Our descriptive findings demonstrate the importance of further studies evaluating food security screenings in Black BC survivors to enable targeted interventions aiming to improve overall health outcomes and equity in cancer survivorship care.
Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. Ethical approval The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Institutional Review Board. Passive consent for participation was obtained electronically from the participants. Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements. Consent for publish The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication. Consent to participate Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)