ArticlePublic health nutrition2019
Is food insecurity related to health-care use, access and absenteeism?
Article in Public health nutrition, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Food insecurity is associated with greater difficulty accessing care among people living with HIV with or without comorbid non-communicable diseases in western Kenya.BMJ global health · 2024Trial
- Food insecurity and acute care utilisation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Joint statistical analysis of household food insecurity and child stunting in Hawassa Zuria district, Sidama region, Ethiopia.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Food Insecurity in the Community: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Portuguese and Immigrant Population of Amadora.Portuguese journal of public health · 2025Article
- Childhood vaccination trends among the Maasai nomadic pastoralists: Insights from a community-based vaccine registry in Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Emerging challenges in aquaculture: Current perspectives and human health implications.Veterinary world · 2025Review
- Food security status and breast cancer screening among women in the United States: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study and Health Care and Nutrition Study.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2023Article
- Drought, HIV Testing, and HIV Transmission Risk Behaviors: A Population-Based Study in 10 High HIV Prevalence Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on food Security in Patients With chronic Kidney Disease.Journal of renal nutrition : the official journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation · 2023Article
- Food is medicine intervention shows promise for engaging patients attending a safety-net hospital in the Southeast United States.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Food security, mental health, and socioeconomic status: A cross-sectional study among medical college students in central part of Iran, Kashan.Health science reports · 2022Article
- Drought and child vaccination coverage in 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: A retrospective analysis of national survey data from 2011 to 2019.PLoS medicine · 2021Article
- Association between Food Insecurity and Chronic Eye Disease in the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program.Ophthalmology scienceArticle
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveFood insecurity (FI) is defined as uncertain access to healthy food in quantity and quality. We hypothesize that FI may be associated with greater health-care use and absenteeism because it may amplify the effect of diseases; also, FI may be associated with reduced health-care access because it reflects economic vulnerability. The present study estimates the association between FI and health-care use and access, and absenteeism.
designCross-sectional data collected in 2015-2016. Health-care use was measured as the number of consultations, taking any drug and having been hospitalized in the past year. Health-care access was measured by the suspension of medication and having fewer consultations due to financial constraints. Absenteeism was measured by the weeks of sickness leave. Binary variables were modelled as a function of FI using logistic regressions; continuous variables were modelled as a function of FI using negative binomial and zero-inflated negative binomial regressions. Covariates were included sequentially.
settingPortugal.
participantsNon-institutionalized adults from the EpiDoc3 cohort (n 5648).
resultsFI was significantly associated with health-care use before controlling for socio-economic conditions and quality of life. Moderate/severe FI was positively related to the suspension of medicines (adjusted OR = 4·68; 95 % CI 3·11, 6·82) and to having fewer consultations (adjusted OR = 3·98; 95 % CI 2·42, 6·37). FI and absenteeism were not significantly associated.
conclusionsOur results support the hypothesis that FI reflects precariousness, which hinders access to health care. The greater use of health care among food-insecure people is explained by their worse quality of life and lower socio-economic condition, so that the specific role of poor nutrition is unclear.
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