Food Security During Pregnancy among Pregnant Adolescents at Udon Thani Hospital

Abstract

Malnutrition is common among adolescent pregnancy comparing to those other age groups due to physiological changes during pregnancy and the need for high-quality and high-volume nutrients to promote maternal and fetal growth. Whereas, inappropriate eating behavior and limiting access to quality and safe food for adolescent pregnant women can lead to food insecurity or malnutrition. The cross-sectional study aimed to study food security during pregnancy among adolescent pregnancy and factors related to food security at Udon Thani Hospital. The 143 pregnant adolescents who aged under 20 years, visited the antenatal care unit at Udon Thani Hospital were included to the study by purposive sampling technique. The data were gathered by self-report questionnaires including pregnant adolescent information and food security among pregnant adolescents of 33 items.  The Cronbach’s alpha reliability of the food security questionnaire was reported as 0.86.  The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Fisher’s exact test. The results showed that the pregnant adolescents perceived their food security status as good level (mean score 49.55 ± 7.22). The age of adolescents pregnant was significantly associated with food security  (p = 0.01). The nurses and midwives should assess, monitor, and support younger adolescents pregnant on food security issue. Further study on food insecurity relating factors to food security among pregnant adolescents and other high-risk groups should be conducted.