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Table 4 Odds ratios (OR) of food insecurity in households with children, September 2012 and May 2013, Iqaluit, Canadaa

From: Food insecurity and food consumption by season in households with children in an Arctic city: a cross-sectional study

Characteristics

September 2012

May 2013

n (%)

OR

95% CI

n (%)

OR

95% CI

Demographic characteristics

 Ageb

  0–40 years old

149 (64.8)

ref.

 

170 (66.2)

ref.

 

  41–54 years old

65 (28.3)

1.46

0.77, 2.76

71 (27.6)

1.16

0.62, 2.15

  55 years old and over

16 (7.0)

1.06

0.34, 3.30

16 (6.2)

1.00

0.29, 3.43

 Genderb

  Male

70 (30.3)

ref.

 

94 (36.6)

ref.

 

  Female

161 (69.7)

2.21*

1.13, 4.32

163 (63.4)

1.30

0.72, 2.34

 Ethnic originc

  Non-Inuit

61 (26.4)

ref.

 

81 (31.5)

ref.

 

  Inuit

170 (73.6)

8.89***

3.36, 23.52

176 (68.5)

21.85***

6.60, 72.38

Socioeconomic characteristics

 Formal educationd

  Secondary school completed

118 (51.1)

ref.

 

163 (63.4)

ref.

 

  Secondary school not completed

113 (43.9)

4.29***

2.29, 8.02

94 (36.6)

3.24***

1.80, 5.82

 Employment statuse

  Unemployed

103 (45.0)

ref.

 

105 (40.9)

ref.

 

  Employed

126 (55.0)

0.11***

0.06, 0.22

152 (59.1)

0.24***

0.13, 0.43

 Retail food expensesf

  Less than $451

144 (63.4)

ref.

 

180 (71.4)

ref.

 

  Over $451 in past week

83 (36.6)

0.80

0.43, 1.48

72 (28.6)

1.75

0.94, 3.25

 Local food expensesg

  Less than $451

196 (93.3)

ref.

 

124 (89.2)

ref.

 

  Over $451 in past week

14 (6.7)

1.66

0.53, 5.15

15 (10.8)

0.64

0.13, 3.12

 Other household expensesh

  Less than $1401

94 (44.8)

ref.

 

92 (40.0)

ref.

 

  Over $1401 in past month

116 (55.2)

0.18***

0.09, 0.35

138 (60.0)

0.31***

0.16, 0.57

Frequency of food consumptioni

 Fruit and vegetablesj

  Less than half of the meals

44 (19.2)

ref.

 

58 (22.7)

ref.

 

  More than half of the meals

185 (80.8)

0.40*

0.20, 0.80

198 (77.3)

0.45*

0.23, 0.86

 Local foodsk

  Less than half of the meals

199 (86.9)

ref.

 

233 (90.7)

ref.

 

  More than half of the meals

30 (13.1)

1.64

0.74, 3.64

24 (9.34)

2.64

0.98, 7.16

 Retail foodsl

  Less than half of the meals

63 (27.5)

ref.

 

76 (29.6)

ref.

 

  More than half of the meals

166 (72.5)

0.79

0.41, 1.50

181 (70.4)

2.13*

1.09, 4.17

 Method of food preparationm

  Cooked fish

   No

93 (40.8)

ref.

 

117 (45.7)

ref.

 

   Yes

135 (59.2)

0.53*

0.29, 0.96

139 (54.3)

0.50*

0.28, 0.88

  Raw meat and/or fish

   No

106 (46.5)

ref.

 

123 (48.1)

ref.

 

   Yes

122 (53.5)

1.65

0.91, 2.97

133 (51.9)

1.78*

1.01, 3.14

  Fermented meat and/or fish

   No

213 (93.4)

ref.

 

239 (93.4)

ref.

 

   Yes

15 (6.6)

1.17

0.37, 3.73

17 (6.6)

1.11

0.36, 3.36

  Dried meat and/or fish

   No

112 (49.1)

ref.

 

160 (62.5)

ref.

 

   Yes

116 (50.9)

1.06

0.59, 1.89

96 (37.5)

0.88

0.48, 1.60

  Frozen meat and/or fish

   No

87 (38.2)

ref.

 

98 (38.3)

ref.

 

   Yes

141 (61.8)

2.63**

1.39, 4.98

158 (61.7)

2.04*

1.12, 3.72

  1. a P value determined using an univariable logistic regression model. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001
  2. bAge and gender are those of the person responsible for food preparation
  3. cEthnic origin of the household was assumed to be the same as of the person responsible for food preparation
  4. dFormal education of the person responsible for food preparation
  5. eEmployment status of the person responsible for food preparation. Includes part-time and full-time employment
  6. f‘Retail food expenses’ include household spending in an average week for food bought from the retail store
  7. g‘Local food expenses’ include household spending in an average week for obtaining or buying local food (e.g. gas, ammunition, supplies, equipment and/or local food)
  8. h‘Other household expenses’ include household spending in the last month for rent, mortgage, electricity, heating fuel, gas, water and sewage, garbage, skidoo parts and oil, bullets, naphtha, and material
  9. iParticipants reported the number of meals that included these foods in the past month. For purpose of analyses, categories were combined into ‘Less than half of the meals’ (‘None’ to ‘Half of the meals’) and ‘More than half of the meals’ (‘More than half of the meals’ to ‘All meals’)
  10. jFruit and vegetables include fruit and vegetables coming from the land and from the store
  11. kLocal foods include freshly caught fish and meat from the land
  12. lRetail foods include fish from the retail store, meat from the retail store and pre-packaged, processed, or ready-to-eat food from the retail store
  13. mMethod of preparation includes preparation of fish and meat, except for ‘cooked’ which includes only cooked fish because of not enough observations for cooked meat. Participants reported their past 2 week consumption
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BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

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