Household food insecurity is associated with both body mass index and middle upper-arm circumference of mothers in northwest Ethiopia: a comparative study

Figures & data

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of study population with program (n=1,985) and without program (n=1,979)

Variables	Program area		Nonprogram area		Total
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Household head
Female	291	14.7	277	14	568	14.3
Male	1,694	85.3	1,702	86	3,396	85.7
Marital status
Married	1,689	85.1	1,721	87	3,410	86
Divorced	231	11.6	157	7.9	388	9.8
Widowed	46	2.3	57	2.9	103	2.6
Separated	7	0.4	20	1	27	0.7
Single	12	0.6	24	1.2	36	0.9
Family size
2–4	979	49.3	893	45.1	1,872	47.2
≥5	1,006	50.7	1,086	54.9	2,092	52.8
Maternal education
None	1,722	86.8	1,559	78.8	3,281	82.8
Formal education	263	13.2	420	21.2	683	17.2
Paternal education
None	1,322	76.6	1,205	67.5	2,527	72
Formal education	404	23.4	580	32.5	984	28
Maternal occupation
Housewife	765	38.5	1,042	52.7	1,807	45.6
Farmer	1,021	51.8	570	28.8	1,591	40.1
Private employee	4	0.2	17	0.9	21	0.5
Merchant	188	9.5	245	12.4	433	10.9
Government employee	12	0.6	63	3.2	75	1.9
Day laborer	21	1.1	78	3.9	99	2.5
Other	37	1.9	37	1.9	74	1.9
Paternal occupation
Farmer	1,514	76.3	1,244	63	2,758	69.6
Merchant	178	9	305	15.4	483	12.2
Private employee	9	0.5	55	2.8	64	1.6
Day laborer	28	1.4	90	4.6	118	3
Government employee	32	1.6	111	5.6	143	3.6
Other	11	0.6	52	2.6	63	1.6
Residence
Rural	1,917	96.9	1,499	75.7	3,416	86.2
Urban	68	3.4	480	24.3	548	13.8
Family monthly income
Birr 80–400	797	40.2	429	21.7	1,226	30.9
Birr 403–560	468	23.6	294	14.9	762	19.2
Birr 561–800	486	24.5	656	33.1	1,142	28.8
Birr 810–9,000	234	11.8	600	30.3	834	21

Table 2 Logistic regression of associations of food insecurity and mother BMI in program area

Characteristics	Mother BMI <18.5 kg/m^2
	n (%)	Crude OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR (95% CI)
Female authority
Yes	159 (8.3)	1	1
No	16 (26.2)	3.95 (2.18–7.14)***	4.13 (2.20–7.77)***
Residential area
Urban	5 (10)	1	1
Rural	171 (8.9)	1.57 (0.56–4.36)	1.22 (0.43–3.52)
Family size
≥4	100 (10.2)	1	1
<4	75 (7.5)	0.71 (0.52–0.97)*	0.65 (0.47–0.9)*
Agroecology
Dega	14 (15.1)	1	1
Woyna dega	66 (7.6)	0.47 (0.25–0.87)*	0.47 (0.25–0.9)*
Kola	95 (9.2)	0.57 (0.31–1.05)	0.48 (0.25–0.9)*
Food-security status
Secure	54 (6.7)	1	1
Mildly insecure	17 (7.7)	1.06 (0.6–1.87)	1.16 (0.65–2.06)
Moderately insecure	39 (6.5)	0.97 (0.63–1.48)	1 (0.63–1.55)
Severely insecure	65 (19.7)	3.43 (2.33–5.06)***	3.6 (2.32–5.57)***
Food diversity
≥7	167 (8.8)	1	1
<7	8 (9.4)	1.08 (0.51–2.27)	0.98 (0.69–1.41)
Number of meals/day
≥3	83 (7.7)	1	1
<3	92 (10.1)	1.35 (0.99–1.85)	0.96 (0.67–1.36)

Notes:

* P<0.05;

*** P<0.001. Dega, elevation >2,400 m; woyna dega, elevation 1,500–4,200 m; kola, elevation <1,500 m.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Table 3 Logistic regression of associations of food insecurity and mother BMI in nonprogram area

Characteristics	Mother BMI <18.5 kg/m^2
	n (%)	Crude OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR (95% CI)
Female authority
Yes	313 (16.6)	1	1
No	11 (12.4)	0.71 (0.37, 1.35)	0.68 (0.35, 1.31)
Residential area
Urban	54 (11.2)	1	1
Rural	270 (18.1)	1.74 (1.27, 2.38)**	1.50 (1.10, 2.12)*
Family size
<4	138 (15.5)	1	1
≥4	186 (17.2)	0.88 (0.69, 1.13)	1.10 (0.83, 1.37)
Agroecology
Dega	85 (31.5)	1	1
Woyna dega	218 (14.5)	0.37 (0.27, 0.50)***	0.45 (0.32, 0.63)***
Kola	21 (10.6)	0.26 (0.15, 0.43)***	0.31 (0.18, 0.54)***
Food-security status
Secure	114 (11.9)	1	1
Mildly insecure	59 (26)	2.60 (1.83, 3.71)***	1.77 (1.21, 2.60)**
Moderately insecure	110 (18.2)	1.65 (1.24, 2.19)***	1.60 (1.18, 2.16)**
Severely insecure	41 (22.2)	2.11 (1.42, 3.14)***	2.31 (1.52, 3.50)***
Food diversity
≥7	319 (16.3)	1	1
<7	5 (33.3)	2.57 (0.83, 7.58)	1.16 (0.90, 1.51)
Number of meals/day
≥3	163 (20)	1	1
<3	161 (20)	1.54 (1.21, 1.96)**	1.29 (0.99, 1.66)

Notes:

* P<0.05;

** P<0.01;

*** P<0.001. Dega, elevation >2,400 m; woyna dega, elevation 1,500–4,200 m; kola, elevation <1,500 m.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Table 4 Logistic regression of associations of food insecurity and mother MUAC in program area

Characteristics	MUAC <23 cm
	n (%)	Crude OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR (95% CI)
Female authority
Yes	1,071 (55.7)	1	1
No	75 (73.6)	2.24 (1.26–3.99)**	2.22 (1.21–4.1)**
Residential area
Urban	26 (38.2)	1	1
Rural	1,090 (56.9)	2.13 (1.3–3.5)**	1.11 (0.66–1.88)
Family size
<4	529 (54)	1	1
≥4	587 (58.3)	1.13 (0.7–1)	1.1 (0.88–1.28)
Agroecology
Dega	49 (52.7)	1	1
Woyna dega	391 (45.3)	0.74 (0.42–1.14)	0.86 (0.55–1.34)
Kola	676 (65.7)	1.72 (1.12–2.64)	1.64 (1.06–2.55)*
Food-security status
Secure	378 (46.7)	1	1
Mildly insecure	156 (64.7)	2.1 (1.56–3.83)***	1.98 (1.46–2.7)***
Moderately insecure	329 (54.5)	1.37 (1.11–2.7)*	1.28 (1.02–1.62)*
Severely insecure	253 (76.7)	3.76 (2.81–5.02)***	2.63 (1.92–3.6)***
Food diversity
≥7	1,051 (55.3)	1	1
<7	65 (76.5)	2.63 (1.58–4.37)***	1.05 (0.85–1.29)
Number of meals/day
≥3	494 (45.8)	1	1
<3	622 (68.6)	2.58 (1.15–3.1)***	2 (1.64–2.44)

Notes:

* P<0.05;

** P<0.01;

*** P<0.001. Dega, elevation >2,400 m; woyna dega, elevation 1,500–4,200 m; kola, elevation <1,500 m.

Abbreviations: MUAC, middle upper-arm circumference; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Table 5 Logistic regression of associations of food insecurity and mother MUAC in nonprogram area

Characteristics	MUAC <23 cm
	n (%)	Crude OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR (95% CI)
Female authority
Yes	927 (49)	1	1
No	54 (66.7)	1.6 (1.04–2.48)*	1.35 (0.86–2.12)
Residential area
Urban	172 (35.8)	1	1
Rural	809 (54)	2.1 (1.7–2.6)***	2.17 (1.71–2.75)***
Family size
<4	411 (46)	1	1
≥4	570 (52.5)	1.3 (1.09–1.55)**	1.18 (0.98–1.43)
Agroecology
Dega	166 (61.5)	1	1
Woyna dega	740 (49)	0.6 (0.46–0.79)***	0.87 (0.65–1.17)
Kola	75 (37.7)	0.38 (0.26–0.55)***	0.47 (0.31–0.7)***
Food-security status
Secure	398 (41.4)	1	1
Mildly insecure	155 (68)	3.01 (2.22–4.09)***	2.41 (1.75–3.33)***
Moderately insecure	314 (52)	1.53 (1.25–1.88)***	1.52 (1.22–2.89)***
Severely insecure	114 (61.6)	2.28 (1.65–3.14)***	2.58 (1.84–3.63)***
Food diversity
≥7	969 (49.3)	1	1
<7	12 (80)	4.11 (1.16–14.6)*	1.39 (1.14–1.69)***
Number of meals/day
≥3	545 (46.5)	1	1
<3	436 (54.1)	1.36 (1.13–1.63)***	1.3 (1.1–1.58)**

Notes:

* P<0.05;

** P<0.01;

*** P<0.001. Dega, elevation >2,400 m; woyna dega, elevation 1,500–4,200 m; kola, elevation <1,500 m.

Abbreviations: MUAC, middle upper-arm circumference; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.