Abstract P174: Food as Medicine: Evaluating the Effect of a Food Insecurity Intervention on Lipid-Lowering Prescription Medications

Abstract

Introduction: Food insecurity and chronic diseases are interrelated challenges, as access to healthful food can hinder effective prevention and management of chronic diseases such as hyperlipidemia. ‘Food as Medicine’ programs that integrate food deliveries and behavioral interventions into healthcare have been recommended for addressing this challenge. While there is some evidence to support the benefits of these initiatives, there has been limited research to evaluate their effectiveness, especially on outcomes related to hyperlipidemia or lipid medication utilization. Methods: This study utilized a quasi-experimental design, using propensity-score matching to compare participants enrolled in the Recipe4Health intervention (R4H) to a control group of participants in clinics where this intervention was not implemented. R4H included 12 weekly deliveries of produce, with or without group medical visits (GMV) with 12 weekly sessions. We examined whether R4H was associated with a change in the intensity of participants’ prescribed regimens. Patient prescriptions for statins as well as any other prescription medications and relevant supplements were assessed. Regimens were standardized to assess whether if a patient’s daily prescribed regimen intensified (e.g. increased dose or added medications), de-intensified (e.g. decreased dose and/or removed medications), or demonstrated no change. Two outcome measures were defined, Overall Regimen Change and Statin-specific Change. Adult participants were included, excluding pregnant women. Generalized linear mixed models were used assuming a multinomial distribution for the outcomes separately for the categories. Results: Patients who took part in the R4H with GMV were more likely to have a medication regimen intensification compared to controls (28.2% vs. 21%, p=0.05). Although not significant, there was a trend of greater reduction in overall medication regimen among patients who participated in R4H with GMV compared to controls ( 6.1/5.2% vs. 1.4%). There was a non-significant trend of reduction in medication among patients in Food Farmacy with GMV/without GMV alone compared to controls for the statin potency change outcome (1.2/3.2% vs 0%), whereas the trend of medication intensification was comparable for all three groups. Conclusion: These results indicate that the group medical visit component of the R4H intervention may have increased patient engagement with medical services, thus resulting intensified medication regimen.