The Prevalence of Food Insecurity and its Association with Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factors: a Cross-Sectional Study in Alborz Province, Iran

Abstract

ABSTRACT Food insecurity (FI) is a public health concern that affects health status. In this study, we aimed to investigate the FI status, and the probable link between FI and a number of risk factors related to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Alborz Province, Iran. This was a cross-sectional study in which 983 housewives living in Alborz Province, with the age range of 18–65 years were selected randomly using a multi-stage cluster sampling method, between 2018 and 2019. Demographic Questionnaire, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), Anthropometric Measurements (weight, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist, hip, and Neck Circumferences (WC,HC, and NC)), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) were measured. Multivariable binary logistic regressions were used to evaluate the association between mentioned variables and FI status. The prevalence of FI in the study population was 61.24 percent (95 percent CI: 58.11–64.30). In a Multivariable binary logistic regressions model, participants in the highest stages of FI had significantly lower risk of BMI (OR: 0.62 95 percent CI 0.45–1.10) (p .007), NC (OR: 0.51; 95 percent CI 0.28–0.95) (p .03), and WHR (OR: 0.50; 95 percent CI 0.29–0.88) (p .011) in comparison with food secure group. FI was highly prevalent in our study population. Despite the high prevalence of overweight and obesity, there were no significant differences in terms of weight between groups.