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. 2022 Apr;25(4):954-963.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980021003128. Epub 2021 Jul 30.

Food insecurity in Detroit: exploring the relationship between patient-reported food insecurity and proximity to healthful grocery stores

Sara Santarossa  1 , Alex B Hill  2 , Alexandra R Sitarik  1 , Mackenzie Taylor  1 , Susan Hawkins  3 , Katherine Scher  3 , Aaron Sohaski  3 , Mohammed Baseer  1 , Rachael Dombrowski  4 , Alexander Plum  3 , Christine Lm Joseph  1
Affiliations

Food insecurity in Detroit: exploring the relationship between patient-reported food insecurity and proximity to healthful grocery stores

Sara Santarossa et al. Public Health Nutr. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the current study was to determine if patients of a large health care system in Detroit who self-identify as food insecure live further away from healthy grocery stores compared with food secure patients. Second, we explored whether food insecurity and distance to healthy grocery stores are related to ecological measures of vehicle availability in the area of residence.

Design: A secondary data analysis that uses baseline data from a pilot intervention/feasibility study.

Setting: Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Participants: Patients of Henry Ford Health System were screened for food insecurity to determine eligibility for a pilot intervention/feasibility study (i.e. Henry's Groceries for Health), conducted through a collaboration with Gleaners Community Foodbank of Southeastern Michigan. Only patients residing in Detroit city limits (including Highland Park and Hamtramck) were included in the secondary analysis. Of the 1,100 patients included in the analysis, 336 (31 %) were food insecure.

Results: After accounting for socio-demographic factors associated with food insecurity, we did not find evidence that food insecure patients lived further away from healthier grocery stores, nor was this modified by ecological measures of vehicle access. However, some neighbourhoods were identified as having a significantly higher risk of food insecurity.

Conclusions: Food insecure patients in Detroit are perhaps limited by social and political determinants and not their immediate neighbourhood geography or physical access to healthy grocery stores. Future research should explore the complexity in linkages between household socio-economic factors, socio-cultural dynamics and the neighbourhood food environment.

Keywords: Food access; Food security; Geography; Healthcare; Social needs.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study area reference map showing counties, city boundary and neighbourhoods
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Estimation of spatial relative risk (on the log scale) of food insecurity using four different estimation algorithms. Larger values indicate increased risk of food insecurity. Contour lines indicate sub-regions of significantly elevated risk at level 0·05
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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