The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Factors and Food Security in Pregnant Women

Background: Food security is among the phenomena that have influenced the worldwide policy- making in the recent years. Furthermore, recent studies have reported extensive food insecurity in Iran. Objectives: The present study aimed at defining the levels of food security and investigating its correlation with socioeconomic factors among pregnant women in city of Rasht (Iran) in 2014. Methods: The present cross sectional study included 420 pregnant women in their 14 to 42 weeks of pregnancy. The sampling method was convenience, and the data were collected using demographic-obstetrics, socioeconomic factors, and food security status questionnaires through face-to-face interviews. The data were analyzed using SPSS 19. Results: The results revealed that 30.9% of the pregnant women had food insecurity (19.6% had food insecurity without hunger, 8.9% had moderate hunger, and 2.4% had severe hunger), while 69.1% had complete food security. Food security was significantly correlated with socioeconomic status of the family, residence area, husband’s occupation, number of employed family members, monthly income, and monthly food cost (P value < 0.001). The results of the logistic regression analysis revealed that husband’s occupation (OR = 1.28), economic status (OR = 1.53), and residence area (OR = 1.43) had increasing effects on food insecurity. Conclusions: Considering the high prevalence of food insecurity among pregnant women and its adverse impact on the mother and the fetus, it seems necessary to investigate the level of food security in women during prenatal care and to support pregnant women with food insecurity in particular.