A cross-sectional study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology sought to determine the association between caregiver-reported vision impairment in US children and household food insecurity. Using data on 153,285 children aged 0 to 17 years from the 2021 to 2023 National Survey of Children’s Health (representing a weighted total of 209,400,289 US children). Investigators compared households that had a child with caregiver-reported vision impairment to households with children without vision impairment.

The study found that, after multivariable adjustment, the households with a visually impaired child had 71% higher odds of being food insecure and 77% higher odds of a more severe category of food insecurity than the households with children without vision impairment.

The researchers concluded that there was a significant association between childhood vision impairment and an increased likelihood of household food insecurity.