Assessment of Household Food Security and its Relationship with Some Pregnancy Complications

Background and purpose: Household food insecurity is defined as limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate and safe food or limited ability to obtain foods in socially acceptable ways. Household food insecurity is associated with weight especially in women, so, this study aimed at determining the relationship between household food security status and gestational weight gain and weight-related complications in pregnancy. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 in 700 mothers attending health centers in Tehran. Questionnaires of household food security US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and general information were used for data collection. Chi-square, independent sample T-test and logistic regression were also applied for statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that the prevalence of food insecurity among mothers was 34.8%. There were 25.4% of mothers who were found with food insecurity without hunger. Among the subjects food insecurity with moderate hunger was observed in 8% and 1.4% were seen with food insecurity with severe hunger. Socio-economic survey showed that mothers with household food-insecurity were young housewives with lower education who had many children and low incomes. Based on the final logistic regression model and after adjusting the confounding variables, food insecurity was found associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (OR= 2.12, CI 1.36 - 3.33) and pregnancy induced hypertension (OR= 1.64, CI 1.01 to 2.67) but not associated with risk of proteinuria (P>0.05). Conclusion: According to findings living in food insecure households may increase the risk of pregnancy complications.