Prevalence and factors associated with food and nutrition insecurity in families in municipalities of the north of the State of Alagoas, Brazil, 2010

Abstract

The scope of this study was to identify the prevalence and factors associated with food insecurity (INSEC) in families of northern Alagoas. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a random sample of 1444 households classified in accordance with the Brazilian INSEC scale into the following categories: mild, moderate or severe. The prevalence ratio calculated by Poisson regression was used to investigate the association of moderate + severe INSEC with the independent variables in both crude and adjusted analysis. The variables that in the crude analysis reached p < 0.2 were included. INSEC was detected in 919 families, of which, 23.3% and 14.2% were in the moderate or severe form, respectively. There was a higher proportion of food insecurity in the families with subjects < 18 years. The variables that remained independently associated to moderate + severe food insecurity were: rooms in the household ≤ 4, schooling of the household head ≤ 4 years, drinking water other than mineral, beneficiary of the Bolsa Família Program, number of residents in the household > 4, head of household is female and schooling of the housewife ≤ 4 years. The conclusion was that the families studied showed a high prevalence of INSEC, especially those with individuals < 18 years.