Fatores associados à insegurança alimentar e nutricional em comunidade carente

Objective: To verify the factors associated with Food and Nutrition Insecurity (FNI) in a needy community. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from August to September 2018 with 150 people from a needy community in Sao Luis, Maranhao, Brazil. Participants were 18 years old, of both sexes, and lived in households in the chosen community. No more than one person per household was included. A questionnaire was used to obtain sociodemographic data (sex, age, education, income, skin color, number of people living in the household, marital status and occupation). Food and nutrition insecurity status was assessed by the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale, which measures family’s perception and experience of food security, insecurity and hunger in the household and classifies the household as either food security or food insecurity (mild, moderate or severe). Multivariate analysis was performed using the Poisson regression model. Results: The prevalence rate of FNI was 94% (n=141) in the people analyzed. Regarding income, 70.7% (n=106) of the participants had a monthly income of less than one minimum wage. As for education, 50.7% (n=76) of the participants reported having less than eight years of study. There was an association between household income of less than one minimum wage (IRR=1.07; CI=1.07-1.31) and FNI. Conclusion: The prevalence of food insecurity was high among the people analyzed and it was associated with lower income.