Center for Nutrition and Health Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Division of Health Economics and Health Systems Innovations, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
PLoS One. 2024 May 10;19(5):e0297694. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297694. eCollection 2024.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused tremendous loss of life and health but has also greatly disrupted the world economy. The impact of this disruption has been especially harsh in urban settings of developing countries. We estimated the impact of the pandemic on the occurrence of food insecurity in a cohort of women living in Mexico City, and the socioeconomic characteristics associated with food insecurity severity.
We analyzed data longitudinally from 685 women in the Mexico City-based ELEMENT cohort. Food insecurity at the household level was gathered using the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale and measured in-person during 2015 to 2019 before the pandemic and by telephone during 2020-2021, in the midst of the pandemic. Fluctuations in the average of food insecurity as a function of calendar time were modeled using kernel-weighted local polynomial regression. Fixed and random-effects ordinal logistic regression models of food insecurity were fitted, with timing of data collection (pre-pandemic vs. during pandemic) as the main predictor.
Food insecurity (at any level) increased from 41.6% during the pre-pandemic period to 53.8% in the pandemic stage. This increase was higher in the combined severe-moderate food insecurity levels: from 1.6% pre-pandemic to 16.8% during the pandemic. The odds of severe food insecurity were 3.4 times higher during the pandemic relative to pre-pandemic levels (p<0.01). Socioeconomic status quintile (Q) was significantly related to food insecurity (Q2 OR = 0.35 p<0.1, Q3 OR = 0.48 p = 0.014, Q4 OR = 0.24 p<0.01, and Q5 OR = 0.17 p<0.01), as well as lack of access to social security (OR = 1.69, p = 0.01), and schooling (OR = 0.37, p<0.01).
Food insecurity increased in Mexico City households in the ELEMENT cohort as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These results contribute to the body of evidence suggesting that governments should implement well-designed, focalized programs in the context of economic crisis such as the one caused by COVID-19 to prevent families from the expected adverse health and well-being consequences associated to food insecurity, especially for the most vulnerable.
COVID-19 大流行不仅造成了巨大的生命和健康损失，还严重扰乱了世界经济。这种破坏的影响在发展中国家的城市环境中尤为严重。我们估计了大流行对居住在墨西哥城的女性队列中粮食不安全发生率的影响，以及与粮食不安全严重程度相关的社会经济特征。
我们对基于墨西哥城的 ELEMENT 队列的 685 名女性进行了纵向数据分析。采用拉丁美洲和加勒比粮食安全量表在家庭层面收集粮食不安全情况，并在大流行前的 2015 年至 2019 年期间进行面对面调查，在大流行期间的 2020 年至 2021 年期间通过电话进行调查。使用核加权局部多项式回归对粮食不安全的平均水平随日历时间的波动进行建模。使用数据收集时间（大流行前与大流行期间）作为主要预测因子，拟合粮食不安全的固定和随机效应有序逻辑回归模型。
粮食不安全（任何程度）从大流行前的 41.6%增加到大流行期间的 53.8%。在严重和中度粮食不安全综合水平，这种增加更高：从大流行前的 1.6%增加到大流行期间的 16.8%。与大流行前水平相比，大流行期间严重粮食不安全的几率高 3.4 倍（p<0.01）。社会经济地位五分位数（Q）与粮食不安全显著相关（Q2 OR = 0.35，p<0.1，Q3 OR = 0.48，p = 0.014，Q4 OR = 0.24，p<0.01，Q5 OR = 0.17，p<0.01），以及缺乏社会保障（OR = 1.69，p = 0.01）和教育（OR = 0.37，p<0.01）。
由于 COVID-19 大流行，ELEMENT 队列中墨西哥城家庭的粮食不安全状况有所增加。这些结果为证据表明，在 COVID-19 等经济危机期间，政府应实施精心设计、重点突出的计划，以防止家庭因粮食不安全而预期出现不良健康和福祉后果，尤其是对最弱势群体。
