title: Household food insecurity and nutritional status of children and women in Nepal.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Information on the association between household food insecurity and nutritional status of children and women based on a nationally representative sample is not available from Nepal.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between food insecurity and nutritional status of children and married women in Nepal using data from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale was used to assess food insecurity in the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. We used body mass index (BMI) to assess the nutritional status of married women, and stunting, wasting, and underweight to assess the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age. Binary logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression were performed to examine the associations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In severely food-insecure households, 51% of children were stunted and 40% were underweight; 27% of married women had a BMI below 18.5 kg/m2; children were 1.50 (95% CI, 1.15 to 1.97) and 1.40 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.85) times as likely as children in food-secure households to be stunted and underweight, respectively; and married women were 1.5 (95% CI, 1.17 to 1.92) times as likely as married women in food-secure households to have a BMI below 18.5 kg/m2. No association was found between household food insecurity and wasting among children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a significant association between food insecurity and malnutrition among children in Nepal. Among women, food insecurity is associated with underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) but not with overweight (BMI > or = 25.0 kg/m2).
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Faujdar
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ram
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger / Q000502:physiology; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018454:Spouses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology; D019282:Wasting Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult