McIntyre L, Connor S K, Warren J
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS.
CMAJ. 2000 Oct 17;163(8):961-5.
In Canada, hunger is believed to be rare. This study examined the prevalence of hunger among Canadian children and the characteristics of, and coping strategies used by, families with children experiencing hunger.
The data originated from the first wave of data collection for the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, conducted in 1994, which included 13,439 randomly selected Canadian families with children aged 11 years or less. The respondents were asked about the child's experience of hunger and consequent use of coping strategies. Sociodemographic and other risk factors for families experiencing hunger, use of food assistance programs and other coping strategies were analyzed by means of multiple logistic regression analysis.
Hunger was experienced by 1.2% (206) of the families in the survey, representing 57,000 Canadian families. Single-parent families, families relying on social assistance and off-reserve Aboriginal families were overrepresented among those experiencing hunger. Hunger coexisted with the mother's poor health and activity limitation and poor child health. Parents offset the needs of their children by depriving themselves of food.
Physicians may wish to use these demographic characteristics to identify and assist families with children potentially at risk for hunger.
在加拿大，人们认为饥饿现象较为罕见。本研究调查了加拿大儿童中饥饿的发生率，以及有饥饿儿童的家庭的特征和所采用的应对策略。
数据来源于1994年进行的全国儿童和青少年纵向调查的第一轮数据收集，其中包括13439个随机抽取的有11岁及以下儿童的加拿大家庭。受访者被问及孩子的饥饿经历以及随后所采用的应对策略。通过多重逻辑回归分析，对经历饥饿的家庭的社会人口学及其他风险因素、食品援助项目的使用情况和其他应对策略进行了分析。
调查中的家庭中有1.2%（206个）经历了饥饿，这代表了57000个加拿大家庭。单亲家庭、依靠社会援助的家庭以及非保留地原住民家庭在经历饥饿的家庭中所占比例过高。饥饿与母亲的健康状况不佳、活动受限以及孩子的健康状况不佳同时存在。父母通过自己少吃来满足孩子的需求。
医生不妨利用这些人口学特征来识别和帮助有儿童面临饥饿风险的家庭。
