Association between Household Food Insecurity and Asthma in Korean Adults

Abstract

Household food insecurity has been associated with noncommunicable diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between household food insecurity and asthma in Korean adults. Household food security statuses were classified into three groups: Food-secure household, food-insecure household without hunger, and food-insecure household with hunger. The odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the presence of asthma according to household food security status were calculated using multiple logistic regression analyses after adjusting for confounding factors. A total of 14,770 participants were included in the analysis. The prevalence of asthma was 2.6% in those with a secure food status, 3.2% in those with an insecure food status without hunger, and 7.6% in those with an insecure food status with hunger (p < 0.001). Compared with that in participants with a household food secure status, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for asthma were 1.12 (0.73–1.73) in those with a food-insecure household without hunger status and 2.44 (1.33–4.46) in those with a food-insecure household with hunger status after additionally adjusting for confounding factors. We found that household food insecurity with hunger was significantly associated with asthma prevalence in Korean adults. Implementation of household food security screening and public health intervention could be helpful to prevent and reduce asthma in adults.

Food insecurity arises the likelihood of hospitalization in patients with COVID-19

“…This reduces the dietary diversity in low-income families, as a result, the intake of micronutrients and antioxidants decreases, and eventually endangers their health status 8 , 26 . Therefore, choosing cheap foods and having an imbalanced diet in families with food insecurity, because these foods are high in fat and sugar, is itself a risk factor in the development of respiratory diseases 27 .…”

Is COVID-19 a Disease of Poverty: The Relationship Between Food Insecurity and the Likelihood of Hospitalization in Patients with COVID-19

“…This reduces the dietary diversity in low-income families, as a result, the intake of micronutrients and antioxidants decreases, and eventually endangers their health status [11,30]. Therefore, choosing cheap foods and having an imbalanced diet in families with food insecurity, considering the fact that these foods are high in fat and sugar, is itself a risk factor in the development of respiratory diseases [31].…”

Assessment of Diet Quality and Health-Related Quality of Life in Young Adults According to Household Food Security Status and Income Level

“…In the Korean population, several studies have been performed on the prevalence of food insecurity [27] and associations between food insecurity and dietary intake [14,[28][29][30][31], childhood obesity [32], asthma [7], and risk factors with older adults [33]. However, there has been little research conducted on young adults compared to other ages and the relationship between food insecurity and health-related quality of life in young adults.…”

“…The number of people who suffer from anxiety disorders worldwide was 264 million (3.6%), of which south-east Asia region also had the highest number as 23% (60.05 million) [18]. Euro Quality of Life ve Dimensions (EQ5D) is an index which was devised to measure health-related quality of life including anxiety/depression, mobility, self-care, usual activities, and pain/discomfort [19], and it is reported to have a relationship with diet quality [20][21][22][23], food insecurity [8,24], and chronic diseases [25] and also is presented as a predictor of mortality in the older adults [26].In the Korean population, several studies have been performed on the prevalence of food insecurity [27] and associations between food insecurity and dietary intake [14,[28][29][30][31], childhood obesity [32], asthma [7], and risk factors with older adults [33]. However, there has been little research conducted on young adults compared to other ages and the relationship between food insecurity and health-related quality of life in young adults.Therefore, this study aimed to assess the dietary quality and health-related quality of life in vulnerable young adults group using KNHANES data.…”