Food insecurity and epilepsy in a nationally representative sample

Food insecurity amongst patients with epilepsy has not been previously studied. The aim of this study was to compare the presence of food insecurity within a nationally representative sample of individuals reporting epilepsy with that within the general population.

The Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 3.1, is a cross-sectional survey that uses a stratified cluster sample design to obtain information on Canadians 12years of age or older. Data on food insecurity were compared for those who reported having epilepsy and the remainder of the population.

Of the 102,927 eligible survey respondents, 654 reported having epilepsy. Food insecurity was considerably more likely to be reported amongst those also reporting epilepsy with a rate of 10.8% compared with those not reporting epilepsy with a rate of 5.2% (odds ratio=2.2, (95% CI=1.6, 3.0)). Binary bivariate prediction of food insecurity within the population of respondents reporting epilepsy included the following: education, income, family size, and home ownership.

The experience of food insecurity appears to be more frequent amongst persons living with epilepsy. Whether this is related directly to epilepsy or factors within the epilepsy experience is unclear.