Adverse health effects of experiencing food insecurity among Greenlandic school children

Figures & data

Table I Proportions of children experiencing hunger due to food shortage at home shortage on self-rated health, physical symptoms, medicine use and socio-demographic factors

		Never (%)	Often or always (%)
Gender (p<0.001)	Boys Girls	62.3 73.5	16.7 9.3
Age (p=0.001)	11–12 years 13–14 years 15–17 years	65.3 67.3 72.3	17.0 12.4 9.4
FAS (p<0.001)	Low Medium High	60.5 71.4 76.5	14.8 12.0 9.8
Type of habitation (p<0.001)	Town Village	71.0 58.2	10.6 18.3
Self-rated health (p<0.001)	Good/excellent Fair/poor	70.0 60.3	12.6 13.9
Physical symptoms last 6 month (p=0.02)	About every week or more frequent Less than about every week	66.4 71.3	11.2 10.6
Medicine use last month (p<0.001)	Yes No	64.1 74.4	13.4 9.1

Table II Association between reported hunger (sometimes, often or always) and health outcomes [OR (95% CI)]

		Self-rated health (fair/poor)	Physical symptoms about every week or more frequent	Medicine use last month
Crude rates	Never Sometimes, often or always	1 1.54 (1.21–1.95) (p<0.001)	1 1.26 (1.01–1.56) (p=0.04)	1 1.62 (1.30–2.02) (p<0.001)
Adjusted for socio-demographic factors (p<0.001)	Never Sometimes, often or always	1 1.60 (1.23–2.06) (p<0.001)	1 1.34 (1.06–1.68) (p=0.01)	1 1.78 (1.42–2.26) (p<0.001)

Table III Association between reported hunger (sometimes, often or always) and health outcomes split on age group [OR (95% CI)]

Age			Self-rated health (good/excellent)	Physical symptoms about every week or more frequent	Medicine use last month
11–12 years	Crude rates	Never	1	1	1
		Sometimes, often or always	1.73 (1.10–2.73) (p=0.02)	1.19 (0.79–1.79) (p=0.40)	1.84 (1.23–2.72) (p=0.003)
	Adjusted for socio-demographic factors (p<0.001)	Never	1	1	1
		Sometimes, often or always	2.02 (1.24–3.29) (p=0.005)	1.18 (0.78–1.80) (p=0.43)	2.09 (1.37–3.18) (p=0.001)
13–14 years	Crude rates	Never	1	1	1
		Sometimes, often or always	1.72 (1.16–2.54) (p=0.01)	1.39 (0.96–2.02) (p=0.08)	1.99 (1.31–2.77) (p=0.001)
	Adjusted for socio-demographic factors (p<0.001)	Never	1	1	1
		Sometimes, often or always	1.76 (1.16–2.66) (p=0.01)	1.53 (1.04–2.25) (p=0.03)	2.04 (1.37–3.03) (p<0.001)
15–17 years	Crude rates	Never	1	1	1
		Sometimes, often or always	1.32 (0.87–2.02) (p=0.19)	1.22 (0.84–1.76) (p=0.29)	1.32 (0.88–1.97) (p=0.17)
	Adjusted for socio-demographic factors (p<0.001)	Never	1	1	1
		Sometimes, often or always	1.10 (0.70–1.73) (p=0.68)	1.24 (0.83–1.84) (p=0.29)	1.53 (1.00–2.35) (p=0.05)