Food Insecurity Among Older Adults with a History of Incarceration

Objectives To examine the association between history of incarceration (HOI) and food insecurity (FI) among older adults.Methods This is a secondary analysis utilizing data from 12,702 respondents aged 51+ who participated in the 2012 and 2014 waves of The Health and Retirement Study. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate the association between HOI and FI, adjusting for demographic variables using odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results In our sample, 12.8% of participants reported FI. Having a HOI increased odds of FI (OR 1.83; 95% CI 1.52-2.21), especially among Blacks (OR 1.78; 95% CI 1.29-2.46) and Whites (OR 2.27; 95% CI 1.74-2.97), but not Hispanics (OR 1.11; 95% CI 0.69-1.77) or other racial/ethnic groups (OR 1.79; 95% CI 0.71-4.52).Discussion FI is an important issue among older adults with a HOI. Stronger linkages between formerly incarcerated older adults and existing food assistance programs are needed.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.Funding StatementThis project was funded by Michigan Center for Urban African-American Aging Center through a grant from the National Institutes of Health (grant number P30 AG015281). This analysis uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (2012 HRS Core, 2014 HRS Core, and RAND HRS Longitudinal File 2018), sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740) and conducted by the University of Michigan.Author DeclarationsI confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.YesThe details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:This current study was exempt from Michigan State University IRB review (STUDY00006614).I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.YesI understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).YesI have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.YesAll data are available online at: https://hrsdata.isr.umich.edu/data-products/2012-hrs-core, https://hrsdata.isr.umich.edu/data-products/2014-hrs-core, and https://hrsdata.isr.umich.edu/data-products/rand-hrs-longitudinal-file-2018