Household Food Insecurity, Mental Distress and Sleep Quality Among Latinas at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVES: There are limited studies among Latinas at risk for T2D focusing on household food insecurity (HFI) as a psycho-emotional risk factor. Poor sleep quality and elevated anxiety symptoms are independent risk factors for developing T2D. The objective of this study is to investigate the associations between HFI, mental distress and sleep quality. METHODS: We conducted a preliminary cross-sectional analyses of baseline data (N = 35) of the ongoing longitudinal Food Insecurity Monthly Cycling and Diabetes Risk (FIC) study. Households were classified as either food secure or food insecure using the 8 adult items of the US Household Food Security Survey Module. Sleep quality was measure using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A score of five or above is indicative of poor sleep quality. Depressive symptoms was assess using the PHQ-8 scale, and anxiety was measure using the PROMIS emotional distress/anxiety scale. We utilized the past 7-days-time interval for all measures. Group differences were assessed with ANCOVA using SPSS v28. RESULTS: Participants mean age was 36 ± 6, 51% were not working, 57% were single, and 77% had high school or less. Further, 49% (n = 17) were classified as food secure and 51% (n = 18) as food insecure. There were no significant differences in HFI status by age, marital status, employment status, or education. Income was inversely associated with HFI. Participants classified as HFI had significantly higher anxiety and worse sleep quality. The anxiety means (SD) across food (in) secure categories were 1.58 (2) for food secure and 9.06 (8) for food insecure, (p = .004). The sleep quality means (SD) across food (in) secure categories were 4.93 (1) for food secure and 7.66 (4) for food insecure (p = .028). Group differences in anxiety and sleep remained significant after adjusting for income. There was a marginally significant association between HFI and depressive symptoms, 3.64 (4) for food secure and 6.72 (5) for food insecure (p = .063). CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggest that food insecurity is associated with greater anxiety and poorer quality of sleep among Latinas at risk for T2D. FUNDING SOURCES: This work is supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R21).