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

Nagata, Jason M; Ganson, Kyle T; Cattle, Chloe J; Whittle, Henry J; Tsai, Alexander C; Weiser, Sheri D

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.