Table 1 Variable description

Outcome variable

 Food insecurity

Over the years,

(1) did you ever reduce the size of your meal?

(2) did you eat enough food of your choice?

(3) were you hungry but didn’t eat because there was not enough food in your household?

(4) did you ever not eat for a whole day because there was not enough food in your household? and

(5) do you think you have lost weight in the last 12 months because there was not enough food in your household?

1 = Yes,

2 = No

Participants who responded affirmatively to one or more questions were classified as 1 “food insecure”; otherwise, they were classified as 0 “food secure” [42]

Note: For affirmative response, we reversed the code of second question

Main explanatory variable

 Multimorbidity

Has any health professional ever diagnosed you with the following chronic conditions or diseases?

1. Hypertension

2. Diabetes mellitus

3. Cancer or malignant tumor

4. Chronic lung diseases

5. Chronic heart disease

6. Stroke

7. Bone-related diseases

8. Neurological/psychiatric diseases

9. High cholesterol

1 = Yes,

2 = No

Participants with two or more diseases were classified as 1 “Multimorbidity” and with no or single chronic disease as 0 “No multimorbidity”