Food insecurity and mobility difficulty in middle-aged and older adults: The importance of bio-psychosocial factors.

Autor: Gyasi RM; African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya; National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: RGyasi.Research@gmail.com., Asiedu HB; Department of Sociology and Social Work, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Siaw LP; Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Nyaaba E; Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Affum-Osei E; Department of Human Resources, School of Business, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Lamptey RB; College of Science Library, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Muhonja F; School of Public Health, Mount Kenya University, Kenya., Arthur DD; Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Asamoah E; Department of Sociology and Social Work, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Nimoh M; Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana., Adu-Gyamfi S; Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of psychosomatic research [J Psychosom Res] 2024 Sep; Vol. 184, pp. 111849. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 22.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111849
Abstrakt: Objective: Food insecurity has been associated with mobility difficulty (MD) in old age. However, there is a scarcity of research on this topic from low- and middle-income countries, while the bio-psychological factors underlying this association are largely unknown. We investigated the food insecurity-MD link in Ghana and explored how sleep, anxiety, loneliness, and physical activity (PA) mediate the association.
Methods: Community-based, representative cross-sectional data from the Aging, Health, Well-being, and Health-seeking Behavior Study were analyzed (N = 1201; M age  = 66.5; women = 63%). MD was assessed with items from the SF-36 of the Medical Outcomes Study. We assessed food insecurity with items on hunger and breakfast-skipping frequency due to lack of food and resources. Adjusted OLS and mediation models via bootstrapping technique evaluated the associations.
Results: Results revealed the expected association between food insecurity and MD, such that greater food insecurity was significantly and positively associated with MD across paths (from β = 0.33 to β = 0.42, p < .001). Analyses of indirect effects showed that sleep problems (27.8%), anxiety (15.5%), loneliness (17.5%), and PA (18.0%) mediated the association between food insecurity and MD. Cross-level interactions revealed that food insecurity significantly modified the link between each mediator and MD.
Conclusions: Our data provide novel evidence that bio-psychological mechanisms may underlie the food insecurity-MD link and should, therefore, be considered relevant targets for interventions to prevent/manage MD in later life.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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