This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (2)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Pediatrics, Other  • Tobacco  • Public Health, Other  • Diet  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Cynthia Cutler-Triggs, MD; George E. Fryer, PhD; Thomas J. Miyoshi, MSW; Michael Weitzman, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162(11):1056-1062.

Objective  To investigate rates and severity of child and adult food insecurity (the inability to access enough food in a socially acceptable way for every day of the year) in households with and without smokers.

Design  Cross-sectional survey.

Setting  Nationally representative sample of the US population from 1999 to 2002.

Participants  Households with children through age 17 years (n = 8817) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Main Exposure  Presence or absence of adult smokers in the household. Covariates included age, sex, and race/ethnicity of the child, and the poverty index ratio.

Main Outcome Measure  Rates and severity of food insecurity were ascertained using the US Department of Agriculture Food Security Survey Module.

Results  Food insecurity was more common and severe in children and adults in households with smokers. Of children in households with smokers, 17.0% were food insecure vs 8.7% in households without smokers (P < .001). Rates of severe child food insecurity were 3.2% vs 0.9% (P < .04), respectively. For adults, 25.7% in households with smokers and 11.6% in households without smokers were food insecure, and rates of severe food insecurity were 11.8% and 3.9%, respectively (P < .003 for each). Food insecurity was higher in low-income compared with higher income homes (P < .01). At multivariate analyses, smoking was independently associated with food insecurity and severe food insecurity in children (adjusted odds ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-2.7, and adjusted odds ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-6.9, respectively) and adults (adjusted odds ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-3.0, and adjusted odds ratio, 2.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-3.7, respectively).

Conclusions  Living with adult smokers is an independent risk factor for adult and child food insecurity, associated with an approximate doubling of its rate and tripling of the rate of severe food insecurity.

Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, New York University School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center, New York (Dr Cutler-Triggs); and the American Academy of Pediatrics Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence, Elk Grove Village, Illinois (Drs Fryer and Weitzman and Mr Miyoshi). Dr Fryer and Mr Miyoshi are now with the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Little Rock.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Smoking, Food Insecurity, and Tobacco Control
Frank J. Chaloupka
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162(11):1096-1098.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Family Composition and Children's Exposure to Adult Smokers in Their Homes
King et al.
Pediatrics 2009;123:e559-e564.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Smoking, Food Insecurity, and Tobacco Control
Chaloupka
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2008;162:1096-1098.
FULL TEXT