Social Inequalities in Changes in Diet in Adolescents during Confinement Due to COVID-19 in Spain: The DESKcohort Project.

Alicia Aguilar-Martínez,Laura Esquius,Susanna Puigcorbé,Albert Espelt,Ester Colillas-Malet,Marina Bosque-Prous,Helena González-Casals

doi:10.3390/nu13051577

Abstract

Adolescence is a critical period in the consolidation of healthy lifestyles that can last into adulthood. To analyze changes in food consumption and eating behaviors in high-school adolescents during the first confinement, a cross-sectional study was conducted at the end of confinement in Spain. Changes in the frequency or quantity of consumption of different types of food and food-related behaviors were analyzed. Socioeconomic and health-related variables were also considered. To determine whether dietary changes were related to socioeconomic position (SEP), Poisson regression models with robust variance were estimated. Overall, there were some changes towards a healthier diet such as an increase in fruit consumption (38.9%) and a decrease in the consumption of soft drinks (49.8%), sweets and pastries (39.3%), and convenience foods (49.2%). Some changes, however, were related to less healthy behaviors, such as a more irregular pattern of meal distribution (39.9%) or an increase in snacking between meals (56.4%). Changes towards less healthy eating were also related to students’ SEP. The risk of worsening the diet was found to be 21% higher in adolescents from a more disadvantaged SEP. Future public policies could be adapted to avoid increasing nutritional and health inequalities.

Highlights

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, COVID-19, caused a global crisis with a major impact on health, and on society and the economy
In relation to food intake, we found that the reduction in consumption of cereals (PR = 1.03; 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) = 1.00–1.05; p-value < 0.03), fruit (PR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.01–1.04; p-value < 0.01), and vegetables (PR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.00–1.04; p-value < 0.05) was higher in adolescents from a more disadvantaged perceived socioeconomic position
In the pool analysis, we found that the risk to worsen their diet was 21% higher (PR = 1.21; 95% CI = 1.10–1.34) in adolescents of the disad

Summary

Introduction

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, COVID-19, caused a global crisis with a major impact on health, and on society and the economy. In the case of Spain, the expansion of the disease forced the country to establish a state of alarm in mid-March and to adopt significant measures restricting mobility and ordinary activities. Such measures consisted of a long period of total lockdown [2], which, while necessary to minimize the rate of infection, involved lifestyle changes that negatively impacted on health. Knowing the food habits of adolescents and the determining factors is of great importance. These habits can have an impact on people in a vital moment of their development, such as adolescence, and in the future [7]. Adolescence is a time when relationships with family, peers, and school play a crucial role and must be considered among the determinants of health [8]

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