title: Prevalence of Food Insecurity in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Food security is one of the main factors of individual and social health. It is of such importance that the World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced it as one of the Millennium Development Goals. This study aimed to report the prevalence of food insecurity in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched English databases including; Scopus, Ovid, Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar and also Iranian databases; SID, Magiran and IranMedex for words Iran, food insecurity, and prevalence up to August 2015. The pooled food insecurity prevalence was calculated using Der-Simonian test. All analyses were performed using random effects model with 95% CI. We assessed heterogeneity of the studies using sub-group and meta-regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 31 studies were included. The prevalence of food insecurity was 49% among households (95% CI: %40-%59), 67% in children (95% CI: %63-%70), 61% in mothers (95% CI: %35-%88), 49% in adolescents (95% CI: %33-%66) and 65% in the elderly (95% CI: %44-%86).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of food insecurity is high in Iran. Fiscal policies should promote the nutritional knowledge of household members and also support the households to meet their nutritional needs. This plan should give priority to mid and low socioeconomic groups.
authors.affiliation: Student Research Commitee, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
authors.forename: Meysam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behzadifar
authors.affiliation: Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behzadifar
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Research Committee, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Shadi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abdi
authors.affiliation: Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arab Salmani
authors.affiliation: Department of Operating Room, Faculty of Paramedical, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ghoreishinia
authors.affiliation: Department of Operating Room, Faculty of Paramedical, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Falahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Yazd University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirzaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Research Committee, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Nabi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shams Biranvand
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
authors.forename: Kourosh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sayehmiri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors