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Persistent Food Insecurity (PFI), HIV, and Maternal Stress Levels in Peri‐Urban Ghana
Author(s) -
Garcia Jonathan,
HromiFiedler Amber,
Mazur Robert E.,
Marquis Grace,
Sellen Dan,
Lartey Anna,
PérezEscamilla Rafael
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.216.6
Subject(s) - food insecurity , peri , environmental health , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , food security , medicine , biology , virology , ecology , agriculture
We examined the associations between HIV, PFI, and the PFI*HIV interaction on maternal stress (N=232). Women recruited prenatally from hospitals offering voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) were followed for 12 months after childbirth. The US Household Food Security Survey Module was applied at 5 time points. Households were classified as PFI (ie. food insecure at each time point) vs. periodically food insecure or persistently food secure. Maternal stress levels were measured with the 4‐item Cohen scale. Women were classified as having low or high stress at 12 months postpartum based in reference to the median stress score. Being HIV‐positive (AOR=2.30, 95% CI 1.29–4.12) and PFI (AOR=3.55, 95% CI 1.13–11.13) were independently associated with high stress. With HIV status and PFI included in the model, only being HIV‐positive was associated with high stress (AOR= 2.03, 95% CI 1.09–3.77). Being both HIV‐positive and PFI, vs. not experiencing these 2 conditions, was strongly associated with high stress (AOR=15.35, 95% CI 1.90–124.14). Intervention studies are needed to understand how to reduce stress among HIV‐positive women living in PFI households. Funded by NIH/NICHD HDH 43620, NIMH T32MH020031; solely the responsibility of authors.