The Prevalence of Food Insecurity and Its Association with Socio-Economic Factors and Nutritional Status Among Hospitalized Children in Tabriz Pediatric Hospital

Under-nutrition has multiple negative impacts on child's growth and development and it has a high prevalence among hospitalized children. Assessment of the food insecurity status is one of the most important indicators of malnutrition among communities, therefore the aim of the current study is to evaluate the prevalence of food insecurity and its social, economical and nutritional determinants among children hospitalized in Tabriz pediatric hospital. The current cross-sectional study was carried out among 236 hospitalized children in Tabriz pediatric hospital. Demographic information including age, weight, height, household size, child order and household income were gathered by face to face interviews with parents. Food security was assessed by a Household Food Security questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed by Excel 2007, Epi-info and IBM SPSS Statistics 21 software. The prevalence of food insecurity among hospitalized children in Tabriz pediatric hospital was 44.9%, while 26.3% and 18.6% had moderately and severely food insecurity, respectively. Its prevalence in females was more than in males. Low household income, low educational attainment of parents, rural residency and household size were potent determinants of food insecurity(p<0.05). All indices of nutritional status in food insecure group were lower than in secure group. Although this difference did not achieved significant threshold. In the current study, a high prevalence of food insecurity in hospitalized children in hospital has been reported. Therefore the need for suitable interventions to reduce its prevalence has been warranted.