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年城乡地区家庭预算调查（Household Budget Survey）的数据。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？」，将回答为「通常食物不足」或「有时食物不足」的家庭归类为粮食不安全家庭。生活状况从经济变量、家庭及周边环境维度展开分析，本研究采用经调整的稳健方差泊松回归模型。
【研究结果】在评估的55406个住户中，39.4%被归类为粮食不安全家庭；其中绝大多数（93.9%）的家庭存在收支难以平衡的困境。经人均月收入、地区及城乡区域调整后的患病率比结果显示，所有不良经济状况与较差的生活条件，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】本次评估的粮食不安全患病率较高，且与家庭不良生活状况显著相关。因此，亟需制定旨在缩小社会不平等的有效跨部门公共政策。