Abstract
Abstract Objectives: to estimate the prevalence of Food Insecurity (FI) in pregnant women and to identify its association with demographic, socioeconomic, obstetric, and anthropometric variables in female users of Family Health Units (FHUs) in the city of Colombo, state of Paraná, South Region of Brazil. Methods: a cross-sectional study of a representative sample of pregnant women from 17 FHUs in Colombo. We used the short version of the Brazilian Household Food Insecurity Measurement Scale (EBIA). In addition, we used Poisson Regression Models with robust, crude, and adjusted variance to investigate the association between FI and exposure variables. Results: 316 pregnant women participated in the study. The prevalence of FI was 45.1% (CI95% = 39.6-50.6). Adjusted analysis showed higher prevalence of FI in pregnant women with 30 years of age or older (PR = 1.66; IC95% = 1.02-2.69), with black skin or indigenous background (PR= 1.39; CI95%= 1.08-1.79), with 7 years of education or less (PR = 1.58; CI95% = 1.14-2.19), and with lower income (PR = 2.07; CI95% = 1.36-3.14). Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of FI among pregnant women, particularly among those of older age and with worse socioeconomic conditions, a group that should be considered a priority for actions aimed at promoting food security.
Highlights
Food is one of the most basic requirements for human life.[1]
There was a high prevalence of Food insecurity (FI) among pregnant women, among those of older age and with worse socioeconomic conditions, a group that should be considered a priority for actions aimed at promoting food security
Food insecurity (FI) occurs when one or more residents of a household are apprehensive about the unavailability of food or when there is a break in eating patterns, reducing the quantity or quality of food.[2]
Summary
Food is one of the most basic requirements for human life.[1] Food insecurity (FI) occurs when one or more residents of a household are apprehensive about the unavailability of food or when there is a break in eating patterns, reducing the quantity or quality of food.[2] That is, FI is the uncertainty of being free from hunger.[3] It is characterized by fears regarding access to food due to physical, social, or economic issues. Hunger may be present in severe FI cases.[4,5]. The main factors that influence FI are low per capita income, low education, high number of residents per household (or, on the other hand, the fact that the individual lives alone), high food costs, poor sanitation, and unemployment.[6,7,8] It was estimated that, in 2013, 52 million (22.6%) Brazilians were facing FI; of these, 4.78 million (9.2%) were residents of the South Region.[5]
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