[Food insecurity levels and associated characteristics in pregnant women in Colombia in 2015].

INTRODUCTION

Food insecurity is the inability of households to acquire safe, nutritionally adequate food that meets physiological needs for leading a healthy and active life.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the levels of food insecurity and associated factors in pregnant women in Colombia.

METHODOLOGY

Cross-sectional-analytical study; is a secondary analysis of the 2015 Nutritional Situation Survey of Colombia. 1393 pregnant women between 12 and 48 years old were examined. Food insecurity was assessed using the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale. Sociodemographic, anthropometric and micronutrient characteristics were evaluated. The description of food insecurity distribution was made for each of the selected variables, through absolute and percentage frequencies. To estimate the association between the different variables and food insecurity, we used multivariate Poisson regression models.

RESULTS

60.4% (CI95% 55.6%-64,7%) of pregnant women resided in homes with some degree of food insecurity; severe: 9.4% (CI95% 7.4%-11.9%), moderate: 17.6% (CI95% 13.5%-22.8%) and light: 33.2% (CI95% 28.9%-37.8%); we found that Black/Mulatto/Afro-descendant pregnant women (PR 1.22 CI95% 1.01-1.47), belong to quartile 1 of wealth (PR 2.23 CI95% 1.41-3.68), and residing in the región Atlántica (PR 1.34 CI95% 1.08-1.67), was associated with some food insecurity level.

CONCLUSION

A high proportion of pregnant women living in households with some food insecurity level. The pregnant women of low socioeconomic levels and those belonging to the black/mulatto/Afro-descendant ethnic group showed to be the main characteristics associated with residing in households with some degree of food insecurity.