The association between public health unit funding and vegetable and fruit intake in Ontario: A multilevel analysis of the 2013-2014 Canadian Community Health Survey.

OBJECTIVE

Robust public health systems are vital for preventing disease and injury, improving well-being, and promoting health equity. The study objective was to estimate the association between public health funding and fruit and vegetable intake.

METHODS

Participants were residents aged 12 years and older living within 34 public health unit (PHU) regions in Ontario, Canada (n = 36,500). Secondary cross-sectional data from the population-representative 2013-2014 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) were used. Vegetable and fruit intake was self reported in the CCHS along with individual covariates. PHU funding per capita and other area-level social characteristics were measured at the level of the public health region.

RESULTS

PHU funding per capita was not associated with vegetable and fruit intake overall (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.97, 1.07) or in gender-stratified analyses (males: OR = 1.06, 95% CI 0.99, 1.13; females: OR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.92, 1.05). Associations were not heterogenous across various sociodemographic indicators (age, gender, race, marital status, country of birth, education, income, urbanicity).

CONCLUSION

PHU funding per capita was not associated with vegetable and fruit intake. More refined measures of PHU funding for vegetable and fruit intake may be beneficial for future research.