Publications

Scholarly Journals--Published

  • Lim JT, Ly NP, Willen SM, et al. Food Insecurity and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Cystic Fibrosis Households. Pediatric Pulmonology. 2022;1-7.   Abstract Background:The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many households due toshelter-in-place orders and economic hardship. People with cystic fibrosis (CF)experienced increased food insecuritycompared to the general population be-fore the pandemic, even though adequate food access is needed to maintainnutrition goals associated with improved health-related outcomes. Little isknown about the impact the pandemic hadon the food insecurity of people withCF and their families. Objective:To investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted food insecurity,mental health, and self-care in people with CF. Methods:Adults with CF and parents/guardians of children with CF were recruitedvia social media to complete online questionnaires from May 2020 to February2021. Questionnaires in English and Spanish included USDA 2-question food in-security screening, Patient Health Questionnaire-4 for mental health screening, anddirected questions on the impact of the pandemic. Results:Of 372 respondents, 21.8% of the households experienced food in-security during the pandemic compared to 18.8% prepandemic (p< .001). Morefood insecure patients with CF reported weight loss (32.1% vs. 13.1%,p< .001),worse airway clearance adherence (13.6% vs. 5.8%,p< .01), and worse medi-cation adherence (12.4% vs. 1.7%,p< .01) compared to food secure patients.Food insecure subjects were more likely to have an abnormal mental healthscreen compared to food secure subjects (53.1% vs. 16.2%,p< .001). Conclusion:Food insecurity increased in the CF population during the COVID-19pandemic. Food insecure subjects reported worse mental health and self-care duringthe pandemic compared to food secure subjects (02/2022) (link)