BY DON SAPATKIN

More than one out of every 10 households in Southeastern Pennsylvania - and nearly one in five in the city - has had to skip or cut back on meals for lack of money, according to a new survey that also found worrisome signs in several measures of public health.

The prevalence of chronic conditions - diabetes, high blood pressure, and adult obesity - continues to inch upward. Roughly a third of women are still not getting recommended cancer screenings.

But the most striking finding involved food. The number of families in Philadelphia that reported having to cut back on meals in the last year increased 28 percent from 2006 to August 2008, when interviewers for the Community Health Data Base surveyed adults in 10,000 households in the five counties by phone. Throughout the region, the number went up 8 percent.

The interviews were conducted around the time that food and gasoline prices peaked. But other reports suggest a continuing trend.

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare reported that 176,000 households in Philadelphia, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the population, received food stamps in January, up about 8 percent from December 2007.

The average benefit, $230, is expected to rise by about $31 in April as a result of the stimulus package signed by President Obama this week, said Rachel Meeks, food stamp campaign manager for the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger.

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