Household food insecurity and mental distress among pregnant women in Southwestern Ethiopia: a cross sectional study design.

Hailemariam Segni,Esayas Kebede,Markos Tesfaye,Mulusew G Jebena,Tefera Belachew,Richard Hoffman,Motohiro Nakajima,Patrick Kolsteren,Yinebeb Tariku,Mustafa Al’Absi,Andrine Lemieux,Netsanet Workineh,Fikre Lemessa,Teklu Gemechu,Mohammed Taha

doi:10.1186/s12884-015-0699-5

Hailemariam Segni, Esayas Kebede + Show 13 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-015-0699-5

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Abstract

BackgroundThere are compelling theoretical and empirical reasons that link household food insecurity to mental distress in the setting where both problems are common. However, little is known about their association during pregnancy in Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the association of household food insecurity with mental distress during pregnancy. Six hundred and forty-two pregnant women were recruited from 11 health centers and one hospital. Probability proportional to size (PPS) and consecutive sampling techniques were employed to recruit study subjects until the desired sample size was obtained. The Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was used to measure mental distress and a 9-item Household Food Insecurity Access Scale was used to measure food security status. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed accordingly. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of food insecurity on mental distress.ResultsFifty eight of the respondents (9 %) were moderately food insecure and 144 of the respondents (22.4 %) had mental distress. Food insecurity was also associated with mental distress. Pregnant women living in food insecure households were 4 times more likely to have mental distress than their counterparts (COR = 3.77, 95 % CI: 2.17, 6.55). After controlling for confounders, a multivariate logistic regression model supported a link between food insecurity and mental distress (AOR = 4.15, 95 % CI: 1.67, 10.32).ConclusionThe study found a significant association between food insecurity and mental distress. However, the mechanism by which food insecurity is associated with mental distress is not clear. Further investigation is therefore needed to understand either how food insecurity during pregnancy leads to mental distress or weather mental distress is a contributing factor in the development of food insecurity.

Highlights

There are compelling theoretical and empirical reasons that link household food insecurity to mental distress in the setting where both problems are common
This study tried to answer the following two questions: One, what is the magnitude of both mental distress and food insecurity among pregnant women? Two is there an association between food insecurity and mental distress among pregnant women? the purpose of this study was to document the magnitude of food insecurity and mental distress and to examine their association during pregnancy
Pregnant women living in food insecure households were more likely to have mental distress (COR = 3.77, 95 % confidence intervals (CI) = 2.17, 6.55)

Summary

Introduction

There are compelling theoretical and empirical reasons that link household food insecurity to mental distress in the setting where both problems are common. Numerous epidemiologic studies have revealed that maternal distress during pregnancy is a public health concern in Sub Saharan African [4,5,6,7,8]. It has been associated with low infant birth weight, impaired postnatal growth, increased frequency of infant diarrhea [9, 10], under nutrition, stunted growth, and poorer cognitive development [11, 12]. This usually occurs when regular access to adequate and nutritious food is limited [23, 24]

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