Social Inequities In A Psychological Domain Of Food Insecurity Among Mothers From Southern Brazil During The COVID-19 Pandemic

We aimed to investigate the social inequalities in the fear of not having enough food for the household, a psychological domain of food insecurity, during the COVID-19 pandemic among mothers from the 2019 Rio Grande birth cohort. In 2019 we invited all mothers who gave birth to a singleton liveborn in the municipality of Rio Grande (southern Brazil) to respond to a standardized questionnaire. In 2020, we followed these mothers twice. In wave I we located 1,077 of all eligible mothers and 1,033 in wave II (follow-up rate of 52.1% and 50.4%). We estimated the absolute and relative inequalities of food insecurity according to the number of people living in the household, maternal education, family income, and income change during the pandemic using the slope index of inequalities (SII) and the concentration index (CIX), respectively. 1,021 mothers reported having food insecurity, and the prevalence was 42.8% and 44.7% for waves I and II, respectively. In wave I we observed inequities in the distribution of food insecurity, being higher among mothers living with [≥]3 people (SII:-17.3; 95%CI[-29.6;-5.0]), with a lower education (SII:-36.7; 95%CI[-47.0;-26.4]), lower income (SII-48.9; 95%CI[-58.0;-39.7]), and with an income that decreased during the pandemic (SII:-47.1; 95%CI[-57.3;-36.9]). These inequities widened from wave I to wave II. This study describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal and family food insecurity and the increased social disparities during the pandemic, especially among the most vulnerable populations.