Association between adult food insecurity and self-reported asthma in the United States: NHANES 2003–2018

Abstract

Objective

Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs. The development of asthma is related to various risk factors. Food insecurity is a critical social determinant of health, although there is little information on the association between adult food insecurity and asthma. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential correlation in US adults.

Methods

The study population data were extracted from NHANES 2003–2018. Food insecurity was measured using the USDA FSSM and categorized as full, marginal, low, or very low food security. The assessment of self-reported asthma was determined by self-report questionnaires. The self-reported positive outcomes were that participants had asthma and a history of asthma attacks and asthma-related ER visits in the past year. We developed two multivariate logistic regression models. Stratified analyses were performed by gender and age.

Results

A total of 38,077 participants were considered in our final analysis. Compared to participants with FFS, the ORs (95% CIs) for asthma were 1.16 (1.00–1.33), 1.42 (1.23–1.64), and 1.56 (1.34–1.80) for participants with MFS, LFS, and VLFS, respectively (Model II). Additionally, after full adjustment, individuals with VLFS had 49% greater risks of asthma attacks (OR = 1.49; 95% CI 1.13–1.97). The ORs (95% CIs) for asthma-related ER visits were 1.59 (1.14–2.23) and 1.98 (1.36–2.87) for participants with LFS and VLFS, respectively (Model II). The positive correlations remained robust when stratified by gender and age.

Conclusion

Our research showed that food insecurity among US adults was associated with asthma, asthma attacks, and asthma-related ER visits.

Keywords:

• Food insecurity
• asthma
• NHANES
• FSSM
• cross-sectional study

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to all people who took part in the NHANES.

Disclosure statement

No conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

All data in this article were obtained from the NHANES database (https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/Default.aspx).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.