Food insecurity amongst Canadian children with food allergy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Food insecurity is a growing concern, that is currently estimated to affect 1 in 4 Canadian children. Due to the additional effort required for management and the disproportionate cost of allergy friendly foods, households with food allergy may be at increased risk of experiencing food insecurity. With this in mind, we aimed to describe and compare the prevalence of food insecurity amongst children in households managing pediatric food allergy between 2019, 2020 and 2022 using a repeated cross-sectional design. A total of 117 participants were recruited via social media between these three distinct timepoints, referred to as waves. All participants completed an anonymous online survey consisting of demographic questions and the Household Food Security Module from the Canadian Community Health Survey. Rates of child food insecurity were comparable between Waves 1 and 2 (34% and 35%, respectively; p=0.75), but, increased significantly between Waves 2 and 3 (35% and 56%, respectively; p=0.005). Amongst children identified as food insecure, the proportion who were marginally food insecure remained relatively stable, whereas, levels of moderate food insecurity appeared to increase, although not significantly. Conversely, the proportion classified as severely food insecure decreased across the waves, but again, this difference was not statistically significant. Our findings demonstrate an upward trend in child food insecurity levels, showcasing the need for a larger scale, longitudinal evaluation of the intersection between food allergy and food insecurity. We call on researchers and policy makers to attend to this important issue.