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Home > Health Sciences > JHDRP > Vol. 11 (2018) > Iss. 1

 

Keywords

Food Insecurity; Pre-hypertension; Pre-diabetes; women; chronic disease

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Community College Leadership | Higher Education | Immune System Diseases | Public Health | Translational Medical Research | Virus Diseases

Abstract

Background

Being food insecure is generally defined as the limited or uncertain availability of safe and nutritious foods and is linked to poor nutrition and fully progressed diet-sensitive chronic diseases. However, little is known about the association between food insecurity and pre-clinical disease such as pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes. This study sought to examine the associations between food insecurity and pre-clinical disease among a racially/ethnically diverse population of women.

Methods

Using data from 2007-2010 NHANES, we examined associations between food security and pre-clinical disease among women 18-65 years. Chi-square tests were used to examine differences in demographic variables. Bivariate and multivariable generalized logistic regressions were used to generate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the magnitude of associations between the presence of pre-clinical disease, sociodemographic characteristics, and food security.

Results

Food insecure women with very low food security (OR=2.69; 95% CI= 1.76-4.13) and low food security (OR=1.90; 95% CI= 1.20-3.02) had increased odds of having self-reported pre-hypertension. Food insecure women with very low food security (OR = 3.34; 95% CI= 1.40- 7.95), and low food security (OR = 2.81; 95% CI= 1.33- 5.93) had increased odds of pre-diabetes and pre-hypertension compared to food secure women.

Conclusions

Food insecurity is associated with having pre-hypertension alone or having a comorbidity of pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes among an adult female population.

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