Association Between Food Insecurity Status Towards Low Birth Weight Among 0–11-Month-Old Infants in Sambas District, West Kalimantan

摘要

In Indonesia, the prevalence of low birth weight reached 10% in 2013. The situation was even more severe in some provinces, including West Kalimantan, with LBW prevalence of 15%. Many underlying factors are associated with LBW. Studies found an association between food insecurity andLBW, but the results were still inconclusive. This study aims to assess the association between household food insecurity towards LBW in Sambas district, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The design of the study was a prospective cohort which began from 2016. In the current study, 483 mother-childpairs were included. Mothers were pregnant women assessed in the baseline study. Data were collected through interviews, anthropometric and hemoglobin level measurement. There was a significant association between household food insecurity and LBW (p = 0.030) after controlling for confounders.Pregnant women coming from food insecure household were almost 5-times more likely to deliver LBW infants. In addition, pre-term birth (OR 7.04, 95% CI [2.07, 18.71]), chronic energy deficiency (OR 3.96, 95% CI [1.28, 12.21]) and anemia (OR 4.05, 95% CI [1.05, 15.71]) status during pregnancywere found to be significantly associated to LBW. Therefore, these findings suggested policy makers consider both nutrition-specific and -sensitive interventions such as education concerning household food production and early supplementation for females at pre-conception. Also, this studyrecommends future studies to consider including mediating factors such as mental health during pregnancy to explain the mechanism of the association between food insecurity and low birth weight.