association of household food insecurity with stunting and underweight among iranian children aged 2 - 5 years old

Background: although previous literature has assessed the association of household food insecurity with nutritional outcomes among children, the findings are inconsistent across different study populations. objectives: we aimed to evaluate the association of household food insecurity with nutritional outcomes among children residing in khalkhal city, iran. methods: the present cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 iranian children aged 2 - 5 years who visited urban and rural health care centers between november 2021 and march 2022. subjects were included in the survey using multi-stage cluster sampling. household food security status was assessed using the united states department of agriculture (usda) 18-item food security questionnaire. odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for stunting according to the food insecurity score were estimated using multivariable logistic regression in three models. results: in the present study, 39% of participants had food security, while the prevalence of food insecurity without hunger, food insecurity with moderate hunger, and food insecurity with severe hunger were 22.3%, 23%, and 15.7%, respectively. in all models, both categorized and continuous food insecurity scores correlated negatively with weight (p for all < 0.001). food insecurity did not predict the risk of stunting in all subjects before and after adjustment (model 1: or (ci) = 1.008 (0.96-1.05), p = 0.72; model 2: or (ci) = 1.01 (0.96 - 1.05), p = 0.65; model 3: or (ci) = 0.98 (0.92-1.04), p = 0.53). conclusions: in the current study, we found that iranian families with the lowest income had the highest food insecurity scores. household food insecurity was negatively correlated with weight status among children aged 2 - 5 years.