Table 2.
Clinical and lifestyle characteristics of individuals with diabetes by household food security status
| Food secure*† | Food insecure*‡ | |
|---|---|---|
| At what age was diabetes first diagnosed? | ||
| ≤39 years | 18.2 (16.6–19.7) | 36.0 (29.5–42.5)§ |
| ≥40 years | 81.0 (79.4–82.6) | 63.5 (57.0–70.0)§ |
| Do you have a regular medical doctor? | ||
| Yes | 96.4 (95.8–97.1) | 93.5 (90.9–96.1) |
| No | 3.6 (2.9–4.2) | 6.5 (3.9–9.1)∥ |
| Self-perceived unmet health care needs | ||
| Yes | 9.7 (8.6–10.9) | 25.2 (19.4–30.9)§ |
| No | 90.1 (88.9–91.3) | 74.7 (68.9–80.5)§ |
| Overnight patient during past 12 months | ||
| Yes | 13.7 (12.5–14.9) | 27.6 (21.6–33.6)§ |
| No | 86.3 (85.1–87.4) | 71.7 (65.7–77.7)§ |
| Length of overnight stay (nights) | ||
| Mean (nights) | 15.5 (12.3–18.8) | 9.0 (6.6–11.4)§ |
| Currently takes insulin | ||
| Yes | 19.7 (18.1–21.3) | 24.8 (19.4–30.2) |
| No | 80.2 (78.6–81.8) | 74.9 (69.6–80.3) |
| Takes pills to control blood glucose | ||
| Yes | 68.8 (66.9–70.6) | 65.9 (59.8–71.9) |
| No | 31.1 (29.3–32.9) | 33.9 (27.9–40.0) |
| Heart disease | ||
| Yes | 20.2 (18.6–21.8) | 20.9 (16.3–25.6) |
| No | 79.4 (77.8–81.0) | 78.5 (73.8–83.2) |
| High blood pressure | ||
| Yes | 52.3 (50.3–54.3) | 46.5 (40.2–52.8) |
| No | 47.5 (45.4–49.5) | 52.8 (46.4–59.2) |
| Glaucoma (aged ≥18 years) | ||
| Yes | 5.3 (4.5–6.2) | 6.1 (3.3–8.9)∥ |
| No | 94.5 (93.7–95.4) | 93.8 (91.1–96.6) |
| Stroke | ||
| Yes | 4.9 (4.1–5.7) | 11.2 (6.7–15.6)§∥ |
| No | 95.0 (94.1–95.8) | 88.3 (83.8–92.7)§ |
| Mood disorder | ||
| Yes | 7.5 (6.6–8.4) | 21.1 (17.1–25.1)§ |
| No | 92.5 (91.6–93.4) | 78.6 (74.6–82.6)§ |
| Daily servings of fruits and vegetables¶ | ||
| <5 times/servings per day | 49.3 (46.7–51.9) | 63.9 (55.7–72.1) |
| ≥5 times/servings per day | 43.5 (40.8–46.1) | 25.6 (19.2–32.0) |
| Smoking status | ||
| Current (includes daily and occasional) | 16.1 (14.7–17.5) | 32.1 (26.3–38.0)§ |
| Former | 53.5 (51.5–55.4) | 38.9 (32.8–45.0)§ |
| Never | 30.3 (28.6–32.1) | 28.8 (22.4–35.3) |
| Physical activity index | ||
| Inactive | 56.9 (54.9–58.9) | 63.7 (57.6–69.8) |
| Moderate to active | 38.7 (36.8–40.7) | 29.2 (23.8–34.7)§ |
| BMI: self-reported | ||
| Obese | 35.0 (33.2–36.9) | 40.3 (34.4–46.3) |
| Overweight | 36.2 (34.4–38.1) | 29.8 (23.6–36.0) |
| Neither overweight nor obese | 26.4 (24.7–28.0) | 22.4 (17.1–27.7) |
| Average daily alcohol consumption | ||
| ≥1 drink | 27.2 (24.9–29.5) | 14.8 (9.0–20.7)§∥ |
| Never | 70.7 (68.3–73.0) | 84.7 (78.9–90.5) |
| Satisfaction with life in general | ||
| Negative(dissatisfied, very dissatisfied) | 4.5 (3.7–5.3) | 20.5 (16.0–25.0)§ |
| Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied | 5.8 (4.9–6.6) | 14.5 (10.8–18.2)§ |
| Positive (very satisfied, satisfied) | 85.0 (83.6–86.4) | 57.8 (51.7–63.9)§ |
| Self-perceived health | ||
| Poor to fair | 36.4 (34.6–38.2) | 61.6 (55.5–67.7)§ |
| Good | 41.8 (39.9–43.8) | 28.9 (23.3–34.5)§ |
| Very good to excellent | 21.5 (19.8–23.3) | 9.5 (5.3–13.6)§ |
| Self-perceived mental health | ||
| Poor to fair (“poor,” “fair”) | 6.1 (5.3–7.0) | 23.6 (18.2–29.0)§ |
| Good | 23.7 (22.0–25.4) | 31.0 (25.5–36.5)§ |
| Very good | 32.5 (30.8–34.3) | 25.2 (19.1–31.3) |
| Excellent | 33.2 (31.3–35.0) | 13.2 (9.6–16.8)§ |
| Self-perceived stress (aged ≥15 years) | ||
| Quite a bit or extremely stressful | 18.3 (16.8–19.9) | 40.3 (34.0–46.5)§ |
| A bit stressful | 37.0 (35.1–38.8) | 30.4 (24.9–35.9) |
| Not at all or not very stressful | 44.2 (42.2–46.2) | 28.3 (22.2–34.3)§ |
Data are proportions (95% CI). These analyses are based on data from individuals with diabetes, aged ≥12 years, living in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut provinces that incorporated the food security module in their survey.
*Survey expansion weights were used with the CCHS 3.1 data to produce proportion estimates and population numbers representative at the population level. In this table, the proportions apply to the weighted population number reported at the top of the column.
†Weighted total food-secure population, n = 1,006,700.
‡Weighted total food-insecure population, n = 103,200.
§Estimates for food-insecure individuals with diabetes versus food-secure individuals with diabetes are significantly different, based on nonoverlapping 95% CIs.
∥This estimate is considered to be of marginal quality because of the high sampling variability associated with it.
¶This variable was only available for respondents residing in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island and is representative of a weighted population of ∼674,100 individuals living in food-secure households and ∼69,400 living in food-insecure households in these combined provinces.