LAUSR

Little is known about food insecurity and its association with geriatric outcomes in older people living with HIV (PLWH). This was a cross-sectional study of 230 HIV-infected patients aged 50 and older recruited in December 2012 through June 2016. Poisson logistic regression models estimated the prevalence ratio (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between food insecurity and the following geriatric outcomes: frailty, physical health and function, social support, mental health and cognition, and behavioral health. 157 (68%) participants were food secure, 35 (15%) had low food security, and 38 (17%) had very low food security. After adjusting the analyses for other significant covariates, at risk alcohol or drug use (PR = 3.14; 95% CI 1.75–5.64), being sedentary (PR = 3.30; 95% CI 1.09–10.00) depressive symptoms (PR = 1.77; 95% CI 1.13–2.76), and dependent instrumental activities of daily living (PR = 2.46; 95% CI 1.13–5.36) were significantly associated with very low food security. These results highlight a need for structural HIV interventions that incorporate targeted food assistance strategies for older PLWH.