Relationship Between Household Food Insecurity and Growth Disorders in Children Aged 3 to 6 in Qazvin City, Iran / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

Purpose@#Food insecurity, which is the inability to obtain food or inadequate food consumption in terms of quality and quantity, has physical and psychological consequences on children's health. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between children's growth disorders and food insecurity in Qazvin city, Iran. @*Methods@#A case-control study was conducted on 177 cases and 355 controls of children aged 3 to 6 years, who were referred to health centers in Qazvin city. The case group consisted of children with growth disorders. Data were obtained with the 18-item US Department of Agriculture questionnaire, a household socioeconomic questionnaire, a and growth monitoring card. The data were analyzed with using IBM SPSS Version 22.0, by independent sample t-test, chi-square test, and logistic regression. @*Results@#A significant relationship was found between children's growth disorders and household food insecurity with (p<0.05, odds ratio [OR]=17.0, confidence interval [CI]=5.9, 48.8) and without hunger (p<0.05, OR=2.69, CI=1.4, 4.9). There were also significant relationships between children's growth disorders and socioeconomic status (p<0.05, OR=3.4, CI=1.4, 8.5), the duration of breastfeeding (p<0.05, OR=0.94, CI=0.9, 0.98), and children's ages (p<0.05, OR=0.94, CI=0.92, 0.96). Sex and birth order, and the age of the parents was not found to be significantly related with growth disorders. @*Conclusion@#Lower socioeconomic status and household food insecurity were the important predictors of children's growth disorders. Policymakers should focus more on promoting steady employment and income among family members. Nutritional education for mothers is also recommended, in order to better meet the nutritional needs of the children.

Prevalence of folic acid supplement consumption before and during pregnancy, and its determinants among community health center referrals

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and determinants of folic acid supplementation among women referred to community health centers. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 325 women referred to community health centers. The subjects were selected from 8 community health centers, using a stratified sampling technique. Data regarding demographics, socioeconomic status, obstetrics, folic acid supplementation status, and household food security status were obtained via questionnaires. The data was analyzed in SPSS v22. RESULTS: The prevalence of folic acid supplementation both before and during pregnancy was 54.5%. The results of the study showed that folic acid supplementation had a significant positive association with education level (odds ratio [OR],0 .441; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.199–0.977; P<0.05), being employed (OR, 0.353; 95% CI, 0.148–0.840; P<0.05), and planned pregnancy (OR, 18.113; 95% CI, 7.371–44.51; P<0.001). However, other variables, including age, husband's age, husband's education and employment status, the number of prior pregnancies, economic satisfaction, and household food security, were nonsignificant factors affecting folic acid supplementation. CONCLUSION: Women with lower socioeconomic status are less likely to take folic acid supplements, and more effort should be made to increase their awareness of the importance of supplementation. Unplanned pregnancy is another strong risk factor for not supplementing with folic acid, and thus should be avoided.

Nutritional intervention on childhood malnutritionin of rural nurseries in Qazvin province, Iran

Malnutrition is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in children. Not only include acute effects on children's health, but also it has long-term effects on their cognitive development and economic growth in the society. Wasting [weight for height with Z< -1] is one of the malnutrition indices in children. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a cooked meal for 175 days on the anthropometric indices of weight, height and weight for height [wasting] of 3-6 years old children in all the rural nursery of Qazvin province, in Iran. In this interventional study, 2385 children [48.8% female and 51.2% male] were recruited. Data were collected by a census in 2010. The children were received a cooked meal based on 360 +/- 20 kcal energy, 17% protein, 53% carbohydrate and 30% fat per day for 175 days at lunch time. The anthropometric indices were collected before and after the intervention. The results were analyzed using Paired t-test by SPSS-16 software. Prevalence of wasting malnutrition [mild and moderate] and sever after intervention reduced from 14.2% and 0.95% to 12.6% and 0.5%, respectively [p< 0.05]. Receiving a cooked meal significantly decreased wasting [15.2% to 13.2%] in all children [p< 0.01]. Receiving a cooked meal for 175 days had a significant reduction in wasting in all children