PLOS ONE · 6 authors, 3 centres
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This systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies found a bidirectional association between food insecurity and multimorbidity in adults. People with food insecurity had higher odds of multimorbidity, and conversely, people with multimorbidity had higher odds of food insecurity.
The study was a systematic review and meta-analysis of four cross-sectional studies involving 45,404 participants to investigate the association between food insecurity and multimorbidity in adults from developed countries. The meta-analysis, using fully adjusted models, found that food insecurity was associated with 1.55 times higher odds for multimorbidity. The authors discuss potential mechanisms, including financial strain from managing multimorbidity leading to food insecurity, and poor diet quality due to food insecurity leading to chronic diseases via inflammation and unhealthy body weight. Limitations include the exclusion of non-English studies and gray literature, reliance on self-reported multimorbidity, and the use of different food insecurity questionnaires across studies. The findings imply a need for public health policies to address both conditions together.
