title: Hunger and overweight in Canadian school-aged children: A propensity score matching analysis.
abstract: The last decade saw a higher prevalence of overweight reported among food-insecure families in Canada, but no robust evidence exists on the covariate-adjusted association in children. In this study, we examined the association between hunger and overweight in Canadian students, using a propensity score matching analysis to reduce confounding.
  
  
  
  This research used data from the 2009/2010 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study on a representative national sample of students in Grades 6 through 10. Students self-reported their height and weight and how often they have gone to school or to bed hungry due to a lack of food at home. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was conducted on the total sample (N = 17,694) and on the sample matched on propensity scores (n = 7,788).
  
  
  
  The overall prevalence of overweight among students was 20.2% with a significant difference between students who reported hunger (24.0%; 95% CI: 22.1-26.0) and students who did not (19.0%; 95% CI: 17.9-20.2). Analysis on the matched sample revealed a significant association between hunger and overweight in children (adjusted odds ratio: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.12-1.50).
  
  
  
  A substantial number of Canadian students have reported being hungry because of a lack of food at home. These students are at increased risk of overweight, regardless of their social class. Child hunger and household food insecurity exist in Canada and constitute a call for policy action at a national level.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health and Social Policy, McGill University, Montreal, QC. marianesentenac@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Mariane
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sentenac
authors.forename: Geneviève
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gariepy
authors.forename: Britt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McKinnon
authors.forename: Frank J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Elgar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D057216:Propensity Score; D018570:Risk Assessment; D057566:Self Report