Multimorbidity and food insecurity in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Food insecurity is one of the main factors affecting multimorbidity. Previous studies have shown that food insecurity may lead to multimorbidity due to person’s inability to consume nutritious diet. However, considering that multimorbidity may cause work-related disabilities and an unstable income, others support the possible effect that multimorbidity has on food insecurity. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to examine the relationship between food insecurity and multimorbidity in adults. A systematic literature review of studies was performed using the PubMed, EBSCO and SCOPUS for all articles including adults ≥ 18-year-old with multimorbidity living in developed countries published from August 5th until December 7th 2022. Meta-analysis was performed considering results from the fully adjusted model. The methodological quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale adapted for cross-sectional studies. This systematic review was not registered. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency. Four cross-sectional studies involving 45,404 participants were included in order to investigate the possible impact that food insecurity has on multimorbidity. The study findings showed an increased probability of multimorbidity 1.55 (95% CI:1.31–1.79, p<0.001, I2 = 44.1%) among people with food insecurity. Conversely, three of the included studies, involving 81,080 participants concluded that people with multimorbidity, have 2.58 (95% CI: 1.66–3.49, p<0.001, I2 = 89.7%) times higher odds to present food insecurity. This systematic review and meta-analysis provide evidence of a reverse association between food insecurity and multimorbidity. Further cross-sectional studies must be conducted in order to elucidate the association between multimorbidity and food insecurity across age groups and between the two genders.

Food Insecurity, Cardiometabolic Risk and Cardiovascular Disease: A Narrative Review and Call for Action

“…These authors also studied the phenomenon of reverse causation to determine whether the presence of multimorbidity (≥2 comorbid conditions) could lead to food insecurity. Using data from 4 studies that included a total of >83,000 adults, they found that individuals with multi-morbidity had more than 2.5 times higher odds of having food insecurity (odds ratio 2.58, 95% CI 1.66-3.49, p < 0.001) when compared to those without multi-morbidity (presence of 0-1 comorbid conditions), although the heterogeneity of the included studies was high (I 2 = 89.7%, p < 0.001) [23]. An analysis of 57,517 adult NHANES participants between 1999-2018 with either known cardiovascular disease (CHD, stroke, CHF) or diseases that confer cardiometabolic risk (hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity) found that the overall prevalence of food insecurity in this population was 11.8%, but increased over time from 8.2 -10.2% in 1999-2006 to 18.2-18.5% in 2015-2018.…”

La inseguridad alimentaria y su relación con las enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles en México y el mundo

“…A pesar de la existencia de los programas internacionales y nacionales, la IA persiste condicionando problemas de salud como lo son las ECNT. 8,36 Según datos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), las ECNT representan el 71% de todas las muertes a nivel mundial, lo que equivale en promedio a 41 millones de fallecimientos cada año, con una tendencia ascendente proyectada hacia el año 2030. 5 Mientras persiste esta morbimortalidad de ECNT, coexisten, más de 3 mil millones de personas en todo el mundo con experiencias de algún grado de IA, 9 con un impacto no uniforme entre la población, afectando de manera más significativa a aquellos que residen en zonas rurales, poseen bajos ingresos o forman parte de poblaciones marginadas.…”

Food Insecurity and Outpatient Care Utilization Among Indonesian Older Adults

“…In turn, multimorbidity may raise the risk of food insecurity. 5 This could be attributed to increased health care spending as a result of multimorbidity and health care utilization, 6 which finally leads to food insecurity due to resource constraints. Multimorbidity may also potentially increase the likelihood of food insecurity while simultaneously reducing health care utilization.…”