Moderate and severe household food insecurity in families of people living with HIV/Aids: scale validation and associated factors

• Published in: Ciência & saude coletiva Vol. 22; no. 10
• Main Authors: Amira Rose Costa Medeiros, Rafaela Lira Formiga Cavalcanti deLima, Leidyanny Barbosa deMedeiros, Flavia Maiele Pedroza Trajano, Amanda Amaiy Pessoa Salerno, Ronei Marcos deMoraes, Rodrigo Pinheiro deToledo Vianna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Rio de Janeiro Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva 01.10.2017
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; Confidence intervals; Food security; Food supply; HIV; Households; Human immunodeficiency virus; Multiple regression models; Regression analysis; Statistical analysis; Statistical tests; Brazil
• ISSN: 1413-8123; 1678-4561
• DOI: 10.1590/1413-812320172210.02462017

Vulnerable population groups, including people living with HIV/Aids (PLHA), may have a high prevalence of food insecurity (FI). A cross-sectional study evaluated the internal validity of the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (Escala Brasileira de Insegurança Alimentar - EBIA) and measured the prevalence of FI in a sample of 796 PLHA in João Pessoa, Paraíba State (PB). The validation was performed using a Rasch analysis. The association of FI with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics was assessed using the chi-square test. Associated variables were included in a Poisson multiple regression model. The EBIA was valid for PLHA with fit values within the expected limits and item severity conforming to the theoretical model. The EBIA identified 66.5% of PLHA with FI in the sample (30.8% mild FI, 18.1% moderate FI and 17.6% severe FI). Moderate FI and severe FI were associated with an age younger than 43 years (prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.49; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14-1.86), primary education (PR=1.64; 95% CI: 1.24-2.17), income per capita lower than ½ minimum wage (MW) (PR=1.83; 95% CI: 1.37-2.44), lack of occupation (PR=1.59; 95% CI: 1.16-2.19) and adult-only households with a female reference person (PR=2.19; 95% CI: 1.45-3.31). The PLHA in this study had a high prevalence of FI, worsening their living conditions and potentially exacerbating their health problems.