Food Insecurity and Cost-Related Medication Underuse Among Nonelderly Adults in a Nationally Representative Sample

Objectives. We investigated whether nonelderly US adults (aged 18–64 years) in food-insecure households are more likely to report cost-related medication underuse than the food-secure, and whether the relationship between food insecurity and cost-related medication underuse differs by gender, chronic disease, and health insurance status. Methods. We analyzed data from the 2011 and 2012 National Health Interview Survey (n = 67 539). We examined the relationship between food insecurity and cost-related medication underuse with the χ2 test and multivariate logistic regression with interaction terms. Results. Bivariate and multivariate analyses showed a dose–response relationship between food insecurity and cost-related medication underuse, with an increasing likelihood of cost-related medication underuse with increasing severity of food insecurity (P Conclusions. Using food insecurity as a risk factor to assess cost-related medication underuse could help increase identification of individuals who may need assistance purchasing medications and improve health for those in food-insecure households.