Food insecurity and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective:

Food security has been suggested to be a risk factor for depression, stress and anxiety. We therefore undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of available publications to examine these associations further.

Design:

Relevant studies were identified by searching Web of Science, Embase, Scopus and PubMed databases up to January 2019.

Setting:

OR was pooled using a random-effects model. Standard methods were used for assessment of heterogeneity and publication bias.

Participants:

Data were available from nineteen studies with 372 143 individual participants from ten different countries that were pooled for the meta-analysis.

Results:

The results showed there was a positive relationship between food insecurity (FI) and risk of depression (OR = 1·40; 95 % CI: 1·30, 1·58) and stress (OR = 1·34; 95 % CI: 1·24, 1·44) but not anxiety. Subgroup analysis by age showed that subjects older than ≥65 years exhibited a higher risk of depression (OR = 1·75; 95 % CI: 1·20, 2·56) than younger participants (OR = 1·34; 95 % CI: 1·20, 1·50), as well as a greater risk of depression in men (OR = 1·42; 95 % CI: 1·17, 1·72) than women (OR = 1·30; 95 % CI: 1·16, 1·46). Finally, subgroup analysis according to geographical location illustrated that food insecure households living in North America had the highest risk of stress and anxiety.

Conclusions:

The evidence from this meta-analysis suggests that FI has a significant effect on the likelihood of being stressed or depressed. This indicates that health care services, which alleviate FI, would also promote holistic well-being in adults.