Niclasen Birgit, Petzold Max, Schnohr Christina W
Greenlandic Branch, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Int J Circumpolar Health. 2013 Aug 5;72. doi: 10.3402/ijch.v72i0.20849. eCollection 2013.
In vulnerable populations, food security in children has been found to be associated with negative health effects. Still, little is known about whether the negative health effects can be retrieved in children at the population level.
To examine food insecurity reported by Greenlandic school children as a predictor for perceived health, physical symptoms and medicine use.
The study is based on the Greenlandic part of the Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey. The 2010 survey included 2,254 students corresponding to 40% of all Greenlandic school children in Grade 5 through 10. The participation rate in the participating schools was 65%. Food insecurity was measured as going to bed or to school hungry because there was no food at home.
Boys, the youngest children (11-12 year-olds), and children from low affluence homes were at increased risk for food insecurity. Poor or fair self-rated health, medicine use last month and physical symptoms during the last 6 months were all more frequent in children reporting food insecurity. Controlling for age, gender and family affluence odds ratio (OR) for self-rated health was 1.60 (95% confidence interval (CI 1.23-2.06) (p < 0.001), for reporting physical symptoms 1.34 (95% CI 1.06-1.68) (p = 0.01) and for medicine use 1.79 (95% CI 1.42-2.26) (p < 0.001). Stratification on age groups suggested that children in different age groups experience different health consequences of food insecurity. The oldest children reported food insecurity less often and experienced less negative health effects compared to the younger children.
All 3 measures of health were negatively associated to the occurrence of food insecurity in Greenlandic school children aged 11-17. Food security must be seen as a public health issue of concern, and policies should be enforced to prevent food poverty particularly among boys, younger school children and children from low affluence homes.
在弱势群体中，已发现儿童的食品安全与负面健康影响相关。然而，对于在人群层面儿童的负面健康影响是否能够恢复，人们知之甚少。
研究格陵兰学龄儿童报告的粮食不安全状况，作为感知健康、身体症状和药物使用情况的预测指标。
本研究基于学龄儿童健康行为调查的格陵兰部分。2010年的调查包括2254名学生，占格陵兰所有五年级至十年级学龄儿童的40%。参与学校的参与率为65%。粮食不安全状况的衡量标准是因家中无食物而饿着肚子上床睡觉或上学。
男孩、年龄最小的儿童（11至12岁）以及来自低富裕家庭的儿童粮食不安全风险增加。在报告粮食不安全的儿童中，自我评估健康状况差或一般、上个月使用药物以及过去6个月出现身体症状的情况更为常见。在控制年龄、性别和家庭富裕程度后，自我评估健康状况的优势比（OR）为1.60（95%置信区间（CI）1.23 - 2.06）（p < 0.001），报告身体症状的优势比为1.34（95%CI 1.06 - 1.68）（p = 0.01），药物使用的优势比为1.79（95%CI 1.42 - 2.26）（p < 0.001）。按年龄组分层表明，不同年龄组的儿童经历粮食不安全对健康的不同影响。与年幼的儿童相比，年龄最大的儿童报告粮食不安全的情况较少，且负面健康影响也较小。
对于11至17岁的格陵兰学龄儿童，所有三项健康指标均与粮食不安全的发生呈负相关。必须将食品安全视为一个值得关注的公共卫生问题，并应实施政策以防止粮食贫困，特别是在男孩、年幼的学龄儿童和来自低富裕家庭的儿童中。
