Os efeitos da insegurança alimentar sobre certas estatísticas de saúde pública: um estudo voltado para países com dados de corte-transversal

Abstract

Aiming to assess the influence of food insecurity (FI) on certain public health statistics (PHS), this research considered data from 126 countries (ecological-study) between 2018-2021 (cross-sectional). To this end, correlation-statistics and regression models were employed, using Ordinary Least Squares, Robust and Quantile Regressions, including interactive-terms and control-variables. In unconditional- estimates (without control-variables), 11 of the 13 PHS showed significant- relationships with FI. These relationships appear to gain significance with the intensity of local-FI, and magnitude according to the gravity of the PHS. In conditional-models, where FI reflects the dilemma between a healthy and unhealthy diet (and no longer hunger/poverty), a large part of the effects lose significance/magnitude. In this hypothetical-scenario, FI would have a negative relationship with infant-mortality, malnutrition (children), and anemia (adult-women), but a positive relationship with obesity (young/adults), the chance of death from chronic non-communicable diseases, and the incidence of tuberculosis, in addition to inhibiting life-expectancy.