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Association of moderate and severe food insecurity with suicidal ideation in adults: National survey data from three Canadian provinces
Davison et al. (2015) applied data obtained from the 2007 Canadian Community Health Survey to examine the suspected link between household food security and suicidal ideation. The national survey conducted across 3 Canadian provinces (n=5270) included adults over the age of 18 and asked the respondents questions such as whether they had seriously considered committing suicide in the previous 12 months. The Household Food Security Survey Module allowed the researchers to determine the participants’ food insecurity status, classing those who show compromise in quality and/or quantity of food consumption as ‘moderate’, and those with disrupted dietary patterns and lower intake levels as ‘severe’. Although there were variations in the proportion of people with ‘moderate’ and ‘severe’ food insecurities experiencing suicide ideation, there was a significant association between suicidal ideation with moderate and severe food insecurity. These findings suggest that promoting food security could potentially reduce suicide-related morbidity and mortality. It would be even more helpful collecting further longitudinal data to expand the current knowledge on the etiological pathways involved in the interaction between food security and suicide. [NPID: food insecurity, mental health, Canada, suicide, suicidal ideation]
Year: 2015
