THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD INSECURITY AND PREECLAMPSIA IN PREGNANCY: A CASE- CONTROL STUDY

Background and Aim: This study was performed with aim to determine the relationship between food insecurity and preeclampsia Methods: This case-control study was performed on 100 women with preeclampsia and 200 normal pregnant women with gestational age of 20 weeks. The subjects were selected by purpose-based sampling method. The questionnaires of food insecurity, socio-economic, demographic features were completed through interviews. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 16) and using Chi-square test, Mann Whitney test, and logistic regression test.Results: Food insecurity was significantly associated with the risk of preeclampsia (P<0.001). Logistic regression test showed that the chance of preeclampsia in unsafe food status in pregnant women was more than 6 times of that in safe food status. Among the variables of the study, socioeconomic status, history of stillbirth, history of preterm delivery and ethnicity were significantly associated with preeclampsia in pregnancy (P<0.05). Also, the women with low socioeconomic status were likely to have preeclampsia more than twice of those with good socioeconomic status.Conclusion: Food insecurity was high in the studied population. Since there was significant relationship between food insecurity and preeclampsia, therefore it seems necessary to pay attention to the issue of food insecurity in different groups of the society.

کلیدواژه ها:

Food insecurity ، Pre-eclampsia ، Pregnancy