Food insecurity and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Food insecurity has been linked to adverse mental health outcomes. This study assessed the association between household food insecurity and self-perceived mental health status and anxiety symptoms among Canadians in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canadian Perspectives Survey Series 2 collected cross-sectional data from May 4 to 10, 2020, on Canadians aged 15 years or older residing in the ten provinces. The brief six-item Household Food Security Survey Module was used to measure participants' households as food secure or marginally, moderately or severely food insecure within the previous 30 days. Logistic regression was used to assess associations between food security status and self-perceived fair or poor mental health and moderate or severe anxiety symptoms, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates.

Approximately one in seven Canadians (14.6%) lived in a household that experienced some level of food insecurity. Of these individuals, 9.3% reported recently accessing free food from a community organization. About one in five Canadians self-perceived their mental health as fair or poor (22.0%), or self-reported moderate or severe anxiety symptoms (18.2%). With covariate adjustment, individuals in households with moderate food insecurity had nearly three times higher odds of reporting fair or poor mental health, and moderate or severe anxiety symptoms, compared with individuals in food-secure households. Among those with severe food insecurity, adjusted odds ratios were 4.0 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.0 to 7.9) for fair or poor mental health, and 7.6 (95% CI: 3.9 to 14.7) for moderate or severe anxiety symptoms.

In the early period of the COVID-19 epidemic in Canada, household food insecurity was independently associated with poorer mental health outcomes. Monitoring both food insecurity and mental health will be important as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.