Food Desert Residence Is Not Associated With Dietary Adherence or Complication Rates in Patients With Isolated Mandibular Fractures.

Background: Mandible fracture management requires postoperative dietary modifications to promote healing. Over 20 million Americans live in food deserts, low-income neighborhoods over one mile from a grocery store. The relationship between food desert residence (FDR) and adherence to postoperative dietary instructions remains unexplored.

Purpose: This study's purpose is to evaluate the relationships between FDR, known risk factors, dietary adherence, and complications among patients with isolated mandible fractures.

Study Design, Setting, Sample: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a level 1 trauma center and analyzed patients with mandible fractures between January 2015 and December 2020. Inclusion criteria included operative treatment of adult patients for mandible fractures; pregnant, incarcerated, and patients with incomplete data were excluded.

Predictor Variable: FDR was the predictor variable of interest. FDR (coded yes or no) was generated by converting patient addresses to census tract GeoIDs and comparing them to the US Department of Agriculture Food Access Research Atlas.

Main Outcome Variables: The study examined two outcome variables: dietary adherence and postoperative complications. Dietary adherence was coded as adherent or nonadherent, indicating documented compliance with postoperative dietary modifications. Postoperative complications were coded as present or absent, reflecting infection, hardware failure, and mandible malunion or nonunion.

Covariates: The covariates analyzed included age, sex, ethnicity, mechanism of injury, medical and psychiatric comorbidities (including diagnoses such as diabetes, hypertension, and schizophrenia), and tobacco use.

Analyses: Relative risks (RRs) and multivariate logistic regression models were generated for both outcome variables. Two-tailed P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: During the study period, 143 patients had complete data allowing for FDR and dietary adherence determination, 124 of whom (86.7%) had complication data recorded. Of the cohort, 51/143 (35.7%) resided within a food desert, 30/143 (21.0%) exhibited dietary nonadherence, and 46/124 (37.1%) experienced complications. FDR was not associated with increased risk of dietary nonadherence (RR 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52 to 1.61, P = .76) or complications (RR 1.19, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.89; P = .46). On multivariate regression, dietary nonadherence was associated with increased complications (odds ratio 2.85, 95% CI 1.01 to 8.09, P = .049).

Conclusion And Relevance: There was no association between FDR and dietary nonadherence or complications in mandible fracture patients. However, dietary nonadherence was associated with complications, highlighting the need for further research and intervention.