Influência da insegurança alimentar na qualidade de vida de famílias em um município do interior da Paraíba

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Hunger, malnutrition and Food Insecurity (FI) still represent serious social and public health problems in Brazil and around the world. Authors point out that hunger will affect 67 million people in the world in 2030, around 20 million more than in 2019 (47.7 million), a very alarming and worrying figure. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influence of Food Insecurity on the Quality of Life (QoL) of families living in a municipality in the interior of the state of Paraíba. METHOD: The present work is part of a larger project entitled “Food and nutritional security in a small municipality: a longitudinal analysis of Public Policies and the population’s food insecurity situation” which was structured based on a prospective cohort design. For this study, data related to IA and QOL were used, collected in households of families living in the municipality of Cuité, Paraíba, Brazil, in the years 2011 and 2014, using a sociodemographic characterization instrument, the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) and the World Health Organization's Quality of Life Assessment Instrument (WHOQOL-Bref), with interviews with the family member responsible for food care at home. A descriptive statistical analysis of the main identifying characteristics of the study participants was carried out. For inferential analysis, hypothesis tests were used to observe changes in the sociodemographic aspects of families in the years 2011 and 2014, compare the values referring to the quality of life of individuals in both moments and relate the demographic variables with QoL. Verification of the influence of family AI on participants' QoL was examined using Multiple Logistic Regression. The main project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the State University of Paraíba and the Alcides Carneiros University Hospital of the Federal University of Campina Grande in 2011 under CAAE: 0102.0.133.000-11 and 2014 under CAAE: 30919314.6.0000.5182, respectively. RESULTS: The study showed a higher frequency of AI in 2011 and of SAN in 2014 in a statistically significant way, indicating that AI reduced over time in the population and in the period studied. The greater number of residents in the household, young age and low income were related to the existence of family FI. A decrease in QoL was observed in residents of households that experienced AI compared to those that had SAN. CONCLUSION: The discussions addressed in this study may lead to new research in the area and reflections that seek to improve government strategies based on effective public policies that generate the rupture of the means of causality of AI, the guarantee of social rights to families and, therefore, consequently, improving people's QoL.