title: Gender differences in food insecurity and morbidity among adolescents in southwest Ethiopia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Several studies have shown the adverse health consequences of food insecurity on household members. To what extent this relationship is mediated by gender among adolescents has not been documented. We hypothesized that the health consequences of food insecurity would be more pronounced in girls compared with boys.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used the first-round data from a 5-year longitudinal family survey of 2084 adolescents aged 13 to 17 years from urban, semiurban, and rural areas of southwest Ethiopia. Stratified random sampling was used to select households and adolescents. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compare self-reported morbidity according to food-security status and gender after adjusting for nutritional and socioeconomic covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 29.9% of girls and 19.2% of boys reported illness during the previous 1 month before the survey. Food-insecure girls were twice as likely to report suffering from an illness (P < .01) compared with boys, and the risk of reported illness tripled when girls were food insecure and were part of food-insecure households (P < .01). Girls were 7.4 and 7.0 times more likely to report difficulties with activities because of poor health and having a feeling of tiredness/low energy compared with boys, respectively (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report that in a food-insecure situation, gender is an important predictor of an adolescent's self-reported health status. Food-security interventions should consider gender as a key variable to narrow the gap in health between boys and girls.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition Unit, Population and Family Health Department, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia. tefera.belachew@ju.edu.et
authors.forename: Tefera
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Belachew
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hadley
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lindstrom
authors.forename: Abebe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gebremariam
authors.forename: Kifle Wolde
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.forename: Yehenew
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Getachew
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lachat
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kolsteren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005523:Food Supply; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D012727:Sex Characteristics