Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Diet Quality and Food Insecurity: a NutriQuébec Sub-study

Overview

The unprecedented confinement and social distancing rules imposed by the fight against COVID-19 has forced the majority of the population worldwide to stay home for periods of time ranging from weeks to months. Eating habits are undoubtedly perturbed during this period, with consequential impact on food security. Therefore, the primary aim of this NutriQuébec sub-study is to document the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on diet quality and food insecurity of adults in the province of Québec in Canada. NutriQuébec is a web-based prospective cohort study launched in June 2019 whose primary aim is to provide data for the evaluation of the Government Health Prevention Policy on the Québec population's eating habits over the years (NCT04140071). Participants of NutriQuébec are invited to complete on a web-based platform nine core questionnaires on a yearly basis. Questionnaires assess several dimensions related to lifestyle, including eating habits and physical activity habits, as well as a large number of personal characteristics and global health status. For the purpose of this sub-study, NutriQuebec will invite the 2465 active participants who completed the first-year questionnaires prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to fill out again those questionnaires during the peak period of the confinement period in April and May, 2020. This NutriQuébec sub-study will provide invaluable data on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts diet quality and food insecurity of adults in the province of Québec.

The 2465 active participants of NutriQuébec who completed the first-year questionnaires prior to the COVID-19 pandemic will be invited to provide informed consent to participate in this sub-study. Once having consented, participants will be invited to complete the core questionnaires by logging into their personal and secured account. Participants will have a three-week period to complete the questionnaires, from April 16 to May 7, 2020. Core questionnaires in NutriQuébec assess lifestyle habits including eating habits, physical activity habits, sleep quality, tobacco, alcohol and drug habits as well as pandemic behaviors, personal characteristics, food insecurity, health status and health-related quality of life. Most of these questionnaires are based on a one-month recall timeframe, with the exception of the eating habits questionnaires, which is in the form of repeated 24-h recall. For the purpose of this NutriQuébec substudy, questionnaires were adapted to focus on habits during the last 7 days of questionnaire completion, to reflect more specifically the confinement period.