Department of Food and Nutrition, Daejeon University, Daejeon, 34520, South Korea.
Department of Foodservice Management and Nutrition, Sangmyung University, Seoul, 03016, South Korea.
BMC Geriatr. 2019 Aug 27;19(1):234. doi: 10.1186/s12877-019-1231-y.
Limited attention has been paid to an association between food environment and household economic resources related to food expenditure in food-insecure seniors. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between factors of economic resource, food environment, and food insecurity in single seniors residing in rural areas of South Korea.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 170 single senior households aged 65 years or over residing in rural areas. Face-to-face interviews were performed to collect data on demographic characteristics, household economic resources/expenditure, food environmental factors, and food insecurity.
Among economic resources, generally limited food expenditures due to housing fees and heating costs during the winter were positively related to food insecurity. Among food environmental factors, food accessibility at community level such as food stores located far from home and inconvenient bus routes was related to food insecurity. The most explainable economic and food environment factors related to food insecurity by stepwise logistic regression analysis were the percentage of total expenditure on housing fee (OR = 1.021, 95% CI: 1.008-1.034), foods purchasing at super supermarket (OR = 0.398, 95% CI: 0.166-0.951), having difficulties in food purchasing due to food stores being located far from home (OR = 14.487, 95% CI: 5.139-40.842) and inconvenient bus routes (OR = 0.083, 95% CI: 0.015-0.460).
Inadequate community food environment as well as limited household food resources were an important risk factor for food insecurity in Korean single rural seniors. Findings of this study could help us better understand how characteristics of household food resources and community food environment can serve as barriers or facilitators of food security among single older adults residing in rural areas.
人们对食品环境与与食品支出相关的家庭经济资源之间的关系关注有限，而这一关系在食品不安全的老年人中尤为重要。本研究旨在调查韩国农村地区独居老年人的经济资源、食品环境和食品不安全因素之间的关系。
对居住在韩国农村地区的 170 户 65 岁及以上的独居老年人家庭进行了横断面研究。通过面对面访谈收集了人口统计学特征、家庭经济资源/支出、食品环境因素和食品不安全方面的数据。
在经济资源方面，由于住房费用和冬季取暖费用导致的食品支出普遍有限，与食品不安全呈正相关。在食品环境因素方面，社区层面的食品可及性，如离家较远的食品商店和不便的公交线路，与食品不安全有关。逐步逻辑回归分析表明，与食品不安全最相关的可解释的经济和食品环境因素是住房费用总支出的百分比（OR=1.021，95%CI：1.008-1.034）、在大型超市购买食品（OR=0.398，95%CI：0.166-0.951）、由于离家较远的食品商店导致食品购买困难（OR=14.487，95%CI：5.139-40.842）和公交线路不便（OR=0.083，95%CI：0.015-0.460）。
不足的社区食品环境以及家庭食品资源有限是韩国农村独居老年人食品不安全的一个重要危险因素。本研究的结果可以帮助我们更好地理解家庭食品资源和社区食品环境的特点如何成为农村地区独居老年人食品保障的障碍或促进因素。
