The Associations of Food Availability, Dietary Pattern, and Family Income with Nutritional Status among Children under Five in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

I Gusti Agung Ngurah Suarnawa¹⁾, Intje Picauly²⁾ Mindo Sinaga²⁾

¹⁾Municipality Health Office, Kupang

²⁾Graduate Program, Universitas Nusa Cendana

ABSTRACT

Background: Malnutrition remains among the most devastating problems facing the majority of the world’s poor and needy people, and continue to dominate the health of the world’s poorest nations. Nearly 30% of humanity are currently suffering from one or more of the multiple forms of malnutrition. This study aimed to determine the associations of food availability, dietary pattern, and family income with nutritional status among children underfive in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.

Subjects and Method: A cross sectional study was conducted in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. A sample of 400 children under five were selected for this study by simple random sampling. The dependent variable was nutritional status as measured by weight for age Z-score. The independent variables were food availability, dietary pattern, and family income. The data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed by a multiple logistic regression.

Results: The risk of underweight increased with food inavailability (OR= 1.68; 95% CI=1.03 to 2.73; p= 0.038), poor dietary pattern (OR = 1.91; 95% CI=1.19 to 3.05; p= 0.007), and low family income (OR= 1.55; 95%CI= 1.08 to 2.23;p= 0.017).

Conclusion: The risk of underweight among children under five increases with food inavailability, poor dietary pattern, and low family income.

Keywords:underweight,food availability, dietary pattern, family income, children under five

Correspondence: I Gusti Agung Ngurah Suarnawa. Municipality Health Office, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. E-mail: ngurah_suarnawakupang@yahoo.com. Mobile:+6282236056715.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/theicph.2018.03.30

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