Investigation of Ukrainian refugees' eating behavior, food intake, and psychological distress: Study protocol and baseline data.

Abstract

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, almost 8 million people left the country; more than 1 million of them relocated to Germany. It is to be expected that the war puts considerable strain on refugees, which will impact the public health system in host countries. This paper presents baseline data and protocol of longitudinal online experimental study of 619 Ukrainian refugees in Germany started in autumn 2022, focusing on participants' self-reports of appetite, food intake, and levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms to examine their associations. Results indicate that levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in refugees significantly exceed the indicators of relevant parameters as reported by independent large-scale surveys conducted in Ukraine before the war as well as strong correlations between these deviations (.59 ≤ r ≤ .69, p = .005). Changes in appetite were related to more severe psycho-emotional deviations (.15 ≤ r ≤ .19, p = .003) and somewhat unhealthier food intake (r = -.08, p < .001). The study underlines the need of psychological care for refugees to improve their mental health and counteract potential negative consequences for physical health via changes in food intake, for which suitable interventions need to be developed.