Abstract
Background/Objectives: Screening for food insecurity, while common practice in pediatric populations, remains novel in pregnancy. Food insecurity during pregnancy is associated with medical comorbidities that in turn confer additional obstetric risks to the maternal-fetal dyad. Few studies have evaluated the impact of interventions for patients with food insecurity in the prenatal period. This study first demonstrates the ease of FI screening in pregnancy using the Hunger Vital Sign™ and next assesses if providing patients with a referral to a registered dietician decreases the incidence of inappropriate weight gain in pregnant patients with food insecurity. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted from November 2019 to March of 2021 at a United States Northeast inner-city hospital-based clinic to identify patients with food insecurity in the prenatal period. All pregnant patients who screened positive for food insecurity were given an educational pamphlet with resources and offered a referral to a registered dietician. We compared the incidence of appropriate weight gain among these patients depending on whether they attended an appointment with a registered dietician. We defined appropriate weight gain following the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) based on pre-pregnancy body mass index. Inferential statistics were performed to compare differences using univariate statistics, and multivariate regression was conducted to control for confounders, with an alpha of 0.05. Results: In total, 139 patients screened positive for food insecurity (FI); 52 (37.4%) attended an appointment with a registered dietician. Overall, 88 (61.9%) patients had inappropriate weight gain during pregnancy. Fewer patients who attended a visit with a registered dietician had inappropriate weight gain than those who did not attend a visit (27 [30.7%] vs. 61 [69.3%], p = 0.031, respectively). Both study groups' demographics, comorbidities, and postpartum outcomes were comparable. Conclusions: We found that for pregnant individuals with food insecurity, consultation with a registered dietician was associated with a decrease in the incidence of inappropriate weight gain during pregnancy.