Food insecurity status and associated factors among rural households in north-east of Iran

Background: to assess the prevalence of food insecurity and associated factors among rural households in north-east of iran. methods: in this cross-sectional study,a total of 4647 rural households (18,061 persons) were studied in neyshabur,a city in north-east of iran. the iranian version of the six-item short questionnaire of household food security scale was used to measure food insecurity. logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios (or) and 95% confidence intervals (ci). results: total prevalence of food insecurity in this study was 40.9% (95% ci 39.49-42.31). backward multivariate logistic regression model showed that or of food insecurity increased with: the presence of chronic disease in household in comparison the absence (or = 2.02),the rural distance >30 km from the city in comparison the distance �30 km (or = 1.41),the presence of smoker in household in comparison the absence (or = 1.8),the residential infrastructure of household �50 m2 in comparison the >50 m2 (or = 1.57),the presence of single parent in comparison the presence of both parents at home (or = 1.38) and the household income (per month) <4,000,000 rial in comparison the �4,000,000 rial (or = 3.91). but or of food insecurity decreased with having a car in family in comparison not having (or = 0.54) and the family having a house in comparison not having (or = 0.61). conclusions: according to results of this study,food insecurity is prevalent among rural households of neyshabur,so it is an important public health problem in this region.