ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced access to adequate food in terms of quality and quantity, especially for the most vulnerable population groups. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Food Insecurity and its main socioeconomic and health determinants in pregnant women and mothers of children under 2 years of age, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) and registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (CRD42021278033). The descriptors "Pregnant Woman", "Postpartum Women", "Breastfeeding Women", "COVID-19", "Food Insecurity", "Food Security" were combined in Scopus (Elsevier), Medline/PubMed (via National Library of Medicine), Embase (Elsevier), Web of Science and Science Direct independently by two researchers in September 2022. Original articles about Food Insecurity in households with pregnant women and mothers of children under 2 years of age during the COVID-19 pandemic were included. The meta-analysis of the prevalence of Food Insecurity was conducted using the RStudio software (4.0.4). Results: The initial search resulted in 539 records, and 10 articles met the proposed criteria and were included in this review. The prevalence of Food Insecurity ranged from 11.5 to 80.3% and in the meta-analysis it was 51% (IC: 30-71) (I 2 = 100.0%). The main socioeconomic and health determinants were ethnicity, domain language, low education, low income, informal employment, unemployment, occurrence of mental disorders, domestic violence, in addition to the unavailability of food in markets and lack of transport. The inclusion of studies with data collection by telephone stands out as a limitation, due to the non-inclusion of vulnerable groups without access to this means of communication. Conclusion: It is necessary to implement and strengthen specific public policies for the maternal and child group with the objective of protecting and strengthening the rights of women to maintain the physical and mental integrity of this group and guarantee Food Security.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , Female , Child , Pregnancy , Infant , COVID-19/epidemiology , Pregnant Women , Pandemics , Food Supply/methods , Mothers , PovertyABSTRACT
The scope of this paper was to systematically investigate the indicators used in the evaluation of food and nutritional insecurity and associated factors in Brazilian studies. After selection in the databases using search terms and reverse search, 89 articles were included. The majority of the articles evaluated food and nutritional insecurity according to the indicator of perception, using the Brazilian Scale of Food Insecurity (83.1%), the American Scale (5.62%) and isolated questions (2.25%). The other articles evaluated the presence of malnutrition among children (1.12%), expenditure on food (1.12%), adult-equivalent dietary intake (1.12%), protocols (2.25%), and prediction models (2.25%). Food and nutritional insecurity (measured by the different indicators) was associated with socioeconomic and demographic factors, health and lifestyle conditions, food consumption and nutritional status, based on families, specific age groups, beneficiaries of government programs, among others, as sample units. The majority of the studies merely evaluated the food dimension of the insecurity, thereby increasing the difficulty in evaluating this complex situation.
Objetivou-se investigar sistematicamente os indicadores utilizados na avaliação da insegurança alimentar e nutricional e os fatores associados, em estudos brasileiros. Após seleção nas bases de dados e busca reversa, utilizando os termos de busca, incluiu-se 89 artigos. A maioria destes avaliou a insegurança segundo indicador de percepção, utilizando Escala Brasileira de Insegurança Alimentar (83,1%), Escala Americana (5,62%) e perguntas isoladas (2,25%). Os demais avaliaram pela presença de desnutrição em crianças (1,12%), gastos com alimentação (1,12%), consumo alimentar de adulto equivalente (1,12%), protocolos (2,25%) e modelos de predição (2,25%). A insegurança alimentar e nutricional, mensurada pelos distintos indicadores, associou-se a fatores socioeconômicos e demográficos, condições de saúde e estilo de vida, consumo alimentar e estado nutricional, tendo como unidade amostral famílias, grupos etários específicos, beneficiários de programas governamentais, entre outros. A maioria dos estudos avaliou apenas a dimensão alimentar da insegurança, reforçando a dificuldade de avaliação desta complexa situação.