Kids who go hungry more likely to access care for mental health, substance use: Ontario study | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Health

Kids who go hungry more likely to access care for mental health, substance use: Ontario study

Published

 on

  1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Physical and mental health

More Canadians say they’re unable to access an adequate diet in recent years

Toronto resident Rhonda Miller knows how difficult it can be to afford the basic necessities.

The 52-year-old lives in an apartment with her daughter and two granddaughters, who are nine and six.

Rising rent and food prices mean Miller has to sometimes choose between paying her bills or buying groceries.

I leave the bills until I can afford it, because I have to get the food, she told CBC News.

The Millers rely on social assistance and income from some part-time work, but they say it’s not enough to keep pace with the rising cost of living.

A new study published Monday (new window) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) highlights the clinical impact a lack of access to affordable, healthy food can have on young people’s mental health.

It found that in food-insecure households, kids could ultimately end up relying more on the health-care system to cope with mental health and substance use disorders.

In Canada, the number of people facing food insecurity — meaning they can’t afford an adequate diet — has significantly grown in recent years due high inflation and the fiscal constraints brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The more severe the food insecurity the household was experiencing, the more likely it was that children and adolescents would have a contact with health services, said Kelly Anderson, the study’s lead author.

Anderson is an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Public Mental Health Research at Western University in London, Ont.

Past research on food insecurity (new window) has warned of the psychological distress it can cause kids, too. But to Anderson’s knowledge, this study is the first to show how food insecurity can likely lead to clinical disorders that strain the system.

Last year, 6.9 million Canadians, including 1.8 million children (new window), faced food insecurity. In Ontario, public health data (new window) says that one in five children live in a household that struggles to put healthy food on the table.

Unmet basic needs can cause stress: researcher

To analyze the link between food and mental health, researchers looked at data between 2005 and 2014 that was connected to a community health survey on a lack of access to healthy foods.

The study looked at information from more than 32,000 children, with more than 5,200 of them living in food insecure households. The children were between the ages of one and 17 years old.

Results showed that kids living with food insecurity accessed medical services for mental health or substance use disorders 55 per cent more than those who had access to an appropriate diet.

They also recorded a greater prevalence of emergency department visits and hospital admissions — 74 per cent more — compared to those who were food secure.

Most commonly, the study said, health professionals were being contacted to address neurodevelopmental disorders, like autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or a mood or anxiety diagnosis.

I think it’s an indicator of living in a state of chronic stress, where you’re unsure whether even your most basic needs will be met, said Anderson.

The results say that kids were less likely to have a psychotic disorder, substance use disorder or engage in deliberate self-harm.

It’s an especially devastating read, Dr. Gary Bloch, a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said of the study.

It is incredibly sad to think about children who are growing up without access to enough food, without access to enough money to live, on a day-to-day basis.

Bloch’s career focuses on the health impacts of poverty and the inequities that exist in accessing care.

While he says the study confirms what is already known, the focus on children creates an urgency to deal with this problem, as kids have little ability to control the social environments they grow up in.

Data more than 10 years old

A key drawback of the CMAJ study is that the data is more than a decade old.

Since the data was collected, even more Canadians have become food insecure, especially in recent years. Inflation hit a 39-year high last summer (new window).

We might expect that if we were to repeat the study using more recent data, that we would find even stronger effects and more frequent use of mental health and substance use services among children, Anderson said.

The findings also could not be generalized to First Nation communities and people living in remote parts of the province.

Dr. Anna Banerji, a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist in Toronto, studies food insecurity in Indigenous youth. She says this issue impacts them in a major way, and often leads kids to lose focus at school and eventually drop out.

Calls for more income supports, food programs

The study’s researchers say their findings emphasize the need for more initiatives to tackle food insecurity as a way to lower strains on the health-care system and prevent poor mental health outcomes that can follow a person throughout their life.

Many of the risk factors that we think about in the area of mental health are very difficult to change, but [food insecurity] is one where there is something we can do about it, said Anderson.

 

There are public policy interventions, like basic-income programs, that can ensure families have adequate resources to support themselves, she said.

Banerji adds that schools can include nutritious breakfast or lunch programs to help kids that might arrive hungry.

Meanwhile, for Bloch, he says the study shows that resources should be put directly toward dealing with poverty — otherwise its impacts will likely end up costing more in the future.

If we don’t want to pay to prevent those visits, we will pay for the visits themselves, and pay for all the ramifications of those visits, through the health system, through increased supports in the education system [and] … in social services systems, he said.

We have real choices to make about where we want to spend our money.


With files from Lauren Pelley and Melanie Glanz

 

10 hours agoFederal Politics

 

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Canada to donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to combat mpox outbreaks in Africa

Published

 on

 

The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.

It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.

Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”

Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.

Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.

On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.

Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”

But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”

“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.

Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.

Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.

Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.

“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.

“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

How many Nova Scotians are on the doctor wait-list? Number hit 160,000 in June

Published

 on

 

HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.

The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.

Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.

“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”

The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.

A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.

Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.

“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.

Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.

The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.

“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Newfoundland and Labrador monitoring rise in whooping cough cases: medical officer

Published

 on

 

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.

Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.

The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.

“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.

Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.

Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.

A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version