Is Food Security Associated to Nutritional Status among Hospitalized Cancer and non-Cancer Patients?

ABSTRACT: Food and nutrition are included in basic needs of humans, and their providing lies in food security term. Food insecurity has effect on individual nutritional status. In addition, appropriate nutrition status of hospitalized patients, would help preventing the complications of various treatments. Since no studies have checked the association of food security and nutritional status in hospitalized (specifically cancerous) patients, therefore this study aimed to assess the relationship between food security and nutritional status in cancer and non-cancerous patients. This cross-sectional study conducted in 1390 on 240 (cancer and non-cancerous) patients from cancer institute, orthopedics, neurology and ENT (ear-nose and throat) sections of Imam Khomeini Hospital of Tehran. General characteristics, nutritional status and food security status were assessed using general, PG-SGA and USDA household food security questionnaires, respectively. Data were analyzed using chi-square and Pearson correlation coefficients tests and statistical software SPSS16.0. Percentage of moderate malnutrition (or suspected of malnutrition) and severe malnutrition were 41.7%, and 25.8%, respectively. Chi-square and Pearson correlation coefficients tests results indicated that food insecurity was significantly associated to nutritional status, so that with increasing food security score, SGA score increased (P < 0.05). Because the Percentage of malnutrition in food insecure patients was more than of food secure patients, by reducing food insecurity the nutritional status of hospitalized cancer and non-cancer patients in will probably improve.