OP151 Food insecurity and mental health during the first UK COVID-19 lockdown

Background Food insecurity (FI) has been linked to ill mental health. This study aims to explore the association between FI and mental health outcomes during the first United Kingdom (UK) COVID-19 lockdown. Moreover, utilising the natural experiment of the COVID-19 pandemic to assess to what extent vulnerability to FI extended beyond those previously at risk of FI, this paper attempts to isolate the effect of FI on mental health from the psychological impacts of other dimensions of material deprivation and poverty. Methods Cross-sectional data from Wave 3 of the ‘Food Usage During Covid-19’ omnibus web survey were gathered during 6–7 July 2020 from 4350 participants in the UK, shortly after the end of the first Covid-19 lockdown. An adjusted binary direct FI measure, stemming from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Security Survey module, was used. Two mental health indicators were included: Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). A new variable was coded using education, income and employment to reflect ‘vulnerability to food and financial insecurity’. Logistic regression was employed to estimate the association between FI and the two mental health outcomes, followed by average marginal effects. Results Being food insecure increased the odds of both anxiety [odds ratio (OR): 3.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.98 to 4.89] and depression (OR: 3.85, 95% CI: 2.96 to 5.02) after controlling for vulnerability to food and financial insecurity. Experiencing FI increased the probability of reporting anxiety and depression by 21% and 25% respectively. Interaction models tested the effects of FI on anxiety and depression by level of vulnerability to food and financial insecurity but did not produce statistically significant results. Conclusion FI predicted anxiety and depressive symptoms during the period of the end of the first UK lockdown. However, it is unclear whether it is possible to disentangle the effects of FI from wider conditions of poverty and more rigorous research is needed. Considering the plethora of evidence indicating the wider negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdowns on mental health in combination with the financial strain and long waiting lines of UK mental health services, it is imperative that policy makers take action towards ameliorating the conditions that people – especially vulnerable, poor, food insecure people – live in, to reduce anxiety and depression levels.