The Effect of County-Level Food Insecurity on Baseline Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Patients Undergoing Carpal Tunnel Release.

PURPOSE: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are widely used in hand surgery to assess symptom severity prior to surgical intervention; however, little is known about how food insecurity, an important social determinant of health, influences these scores. We aimed to measure the correlation between county-level food insecurity and baseline PROMs in a cohort of patients undergoing carpal tunnel release (CTR) for idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

METHODS

Baseline PROMs were prospectively collected in 114 patients with electrodiagnostic study, ultrasound, or CTS-6 confirmed CTS treated with CTR at a single tertiary referral center. Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap Dataset was used to identify county-level food-insecurity rate, average meal cost, and percent eligible for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Correlations between food-insecurity parameters and PROMs were assessed using correlation coefficients; bivariate analyses of continuous explanatory variables were performed using linear regression.

RESULTS

Mean age was 61.6 ± 12.7 years. A total of 57.9% were women, and 93.9% were White. In total, 14.9% and 19.3% of our cohort reside in Massachusetts counties falling within the upper quartile and upper half of food-insecurity rates, respectively. No significant correlations were found between food-insecurity variables and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores. Younger age was associated with worse Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire-Symptom Severity Scale scores and PROMIS Pain Interference scores.

CONCLUSIONS

We found no evidence that patients with food insecurity present with greater symptom severity at time of CTR.

TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic IIb.