A new analysis of nearly 3000 counties in the United States found that a poorer local food environment is associated with higher heart failure (HF) mortality at the county level. [Medscape]

Previous research has established that food insecurity increases the risk for worse health outcomes. But few studies have looked specifically at HF outcomes and much of the work was restricted to single metropolitan areas or health systems, which may not have captured the diversity and variance of access to food across the US, explained study author Keerthi Gondi, MD, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Further fueling their desire to look at the population level was the acute rise in food insecurity with the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted....

The full paper, published online October 25 in Circulation: Heart Failure, includes 2956 countries with an average FI% of 13% and average FEI of 7.8.

Counties with an FI% above the national median of 13.7% had higher HF mortality than those below the national median (30.7 vs 26.7 deaths per 100,000 people; P < .001).

The association with mortality was stronger for heart failure than with non-HF cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, Gondi said. "This, I think, demonstrates a unique relationship between heart failure and food insecurity."

Full article here> 

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