Hadley Craig, Patil Crystal L
Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan, 1214 South University Ave., 2nd Floor, Ann Arbor, 48104, USA.
Am J Hum Biol. 2006 May-Jun;18(3):359-68. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.20505.
Food insecurity is a major health problem that has pervasive effects on many human biological outcomes. In particular, there are compelling theoretical and empirical reasons to expect that the relationship between food insecurity may be directly related to mental health morbidities, and may be quantifiable in developing country settings. This preliminary study examined whether caretaker reports of food insecurity were associated with anxiety and depression among four ethnic groups in two communities of rural Tanzania. In-home interviews were conducted in June-August of 2005 among female caretakers (n = 449). In addition to collecting household and demographic data, modified versions of the USDA's food security module and Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) were used to measure food insecurity and anxiety and depression. Consistent with predictions, the results showed a strong positive correlation between a caretaker's score on the food insecurity instrument and her summed response on the HSCL (P < 0.0001). This association was maintained in all four ethnic groups, even when controlling for individual-level covariates such as caretaker's age and marital status. Issues of causality and hypotheses that might explain this robust finding are discussed, as are methodological and theoretical implications.
粮食不安全是一个重大的健康问题，对许多人类生物学指标都有普遍影响。特别是，有令人信服的理论和实证依据预期，粮食不安全之间的关系可能与心理健康问题直接相关，并且在发展中国家的环境中可能是可量化的。这项初步研究调查了坦桑尼亚农村两个社区中四个族群的看护人报告的粮食不安全情况是否与焦虑和抑郁有关。2005年6月至8月间，对女性看护人（n = 449）进行了入户访谈。除了收集家庭和人口数据外，还使用了美国农业部粮食安全模块的修改版和霍普金斯症状清单（HSCL）来衡量粮食不安全以及焦虑和抑郁情况。与预测一致，结果显示看护人在粮食不安全量表上的得分与她在HSCL上的总得分之间存在很强的正相关（P < 0.0001）。即使在控制了个体层面的协变量，如看护人的年龄和婚姻状况后，这种关联在所有四个族群中都依然存在。文中讨论了可能解释这一有力发现的因果关系问题和假设，以及方法学和理论方面的影响。
