Food insecurity and physical multimorbidity among adults aged ≥ 50 years from six low- and middle-income countries.
Lee SmithJae Il ShinLouis JacobGuillermo F López SánchezFelipe SchuchMark A TullyHans OhNicola VeronesePinar SoysalLaurie ButlerYvonne BarnettAi KoyanagiPublished in: European journal of nutrition (2022)
Data on 34,129 adults aged ≥ 50 years [mean (SD) age 62.4 (16.0) years; age range 50-114 years; 47.9% males] were analyzed. After adjustment for potential confounders, in the overall sample, compared to being food secure, moderate and severe food insecurity were associated with 1.29 (95% CI 1.06-1.56) and 1.56 (95% CI 1.13-2.16) times higher odds for multimorbidity, respectively CONCLUSION: Food insecurity was associated with greater odds for multimorbidity in older adults from LMICs. Addressing food insecurity in the general population may reduce risk for multimorbidity, while screening for food insecurity and addressing it among those with multimorbidity may lead to better clinical outcomes, pending future longitudinal research.