Living conditions of Brazilian families: an estimation of food insecurity

Abstract Aim: To research the association between the living conditions of Brazilian families and the Food Insecurity (FI) estimations. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted with data from the Household Budget Survey (2008-2009) in rural and urban areas. The estimation of FI rating was obtained by the question: “Which of the following statements best describes the amount of food consumed by your family?”,classified as FI for answers “usually not enough” or “sometimes not enough”. Living conditions were analyzed by economic variables, the household and its surroundings. Poisson regression models with robust variance, adjusted, were used. Results: 39.4% out of 55.406 households evaluated, were classified as FI. In most (93.9%) difficulty to make ends meet was identified. Prevalence ratio values, adjusted for monthly income per capita, region and area, showed that all economic and unsatisfactory living conditions, as well as home and surrounding problems were significantly associated with FI. Conclusions: The prevalence of FI estimates was high, associated with families’ unsatisfactory living conditions. Therefore, there is a need to implement effective intersectorial public policies aimed at reducing inequality.研究目的：探究巴西家庭生活状况与粮食不安全（Food Insecurity, FI）评估结果之间的关联。 研究方法：本研究为横断面研究，采用巴西2008-2009年家庭预算调查（Household Budget Survey）的城乡地区数据。粮食不安全等级的评估通过以下问题完成：“以下哪项表述最能描述您家庭的食物消费量？”，将回答“通常不足”或“有时不足”的情况归类为粮食不安全。生活状况通过经济变量、家庭及其周边环境进行分析。本研究采用经稳健方差校正的泊松回归模型。 研究结果：在被评估的55406个家庭中，39.4%被归类为粮食不安全。其中绝大多数（93.9%）家庭存在入不敷出的情况。经人均月收入、地区及城乡区域校正后的患病率比（Prevalence Ratio, PR）显示，所有经济状况不佳、生活条件欠佳以及住房及周边环境问题均与粮食不安全存在显著关联。 研究结论：本次研究的粮食不安全患病率较高，且与家庭不良生活状况密切相关。因此，亟需制定有效的跨部门公共政策以降低社会不平等。