Household Food Insecurity and Childhood Undernutrition Among Residents of Low-cost Public Housing: A Cross-sectional Study in Malaysia

Household Food Insecurity and Childhood Undernutrition Among Residents of Low-cost Public Housing: A Cross-sectional Study in Malaysia | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Household Food Insecurity and Childhood Undernutrition Among Residents of Low-cost Public Housing: A Cross-sectional Study in Malaysia Chuan Way Lye, Vern Zhi Denise Goh, Hazreen Abdul Majid, Ai Kah Ng This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7173391/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Urbanization in Malaysia has led to an increase in the number of low-income households vulnerable to food insecurity. This study investigates the prevalence of household food insecurity (HFIS) and its association with childhood undernutrition among low-income families in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2022 to July 2023 among 275 households with children aged 6–59 months. Household food insecurity was assessed using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), and nutritional outcomes—stunting, underweight, and wasting—were measured using WHO standards. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with HFIS and its link to undernutrition. Over half (57.1%) of the surveyed households experienced food insecurity. The prevalence of undernutrition was 36.4% for stunting, 20.6% for underweight, and 15.7% for wasting. Households with income below the poverty line (RM2208/month, ~USD470/month) were more likely to experience HFIS (adjusted odds ratio, aOR 2.09, 95% CI: 1.19–3.68, p<0.01). HFIS significantly increased the odds of stunting (aOR 1.75, 95% CI: 1.01–3.04, p<0.05), but associations with underweight and wasting were not statistically significant. The study highlights the major issue of food insecurity among urban low-income families and its significant role in childhood stunting. Targeted public health interventions addressing poverty and food insecurity are essential to curb undernutrition in urban areas. Household Food Insecurity Stunting Underweight Wasting Undernutrition Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7173391","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":488754607,"identity":"be18cc69-952c-409d-8c41-7546c563b6b2","order_by":0,"name":"Chuan Way Lye","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDCCA8wNYNqAHUQbWBCjhRGqhecAiJQgRYtEAogiQgvf7YNtEh8YtsmZSz6/uuFHgQQDf3t3Al4tkucS2yRnMNw2tpydU3azB+gwiTNnN+DVYnCGsU2ah+F24obbOWk3eIBaDCRyidDyB6Tl5pm0m3+I1sIA0nKD/dhtomyRPMPYbNljcNvY4EwO220ZAwkegn7hO8N88MaPittyBsePP7v55o+NHH97L34tQMACdAyI5oGQhJSDAPMHCM3+gBjVo2AUjIJRMAIBAJt/SxIUE7WYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5960-1180","institution":"Ministry of Health Malaysia: Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chuan","middleName":"Way","lastName":"Lye","suffix":""},{"id":488754608,"identity":"e6d6353e-e623-4db3-b175-3faeb0bb47e3","order_by":1,"name":"Vern Zhi Denise Goh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Malaysia Medical Council","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vern","middleName":"Zhi Denise","lastName":"Goh","suffix":""},{"id":488754609,"identity":"19fdaa89-1bf2-4424-9b91-8689a3099490","order_by":2,"name":"Hazreen Abdul Majid","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Health Sciences University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hazreen","middleName":"Abdul","lastName":"Majid","suffix":""},{"id":488754610,"identity":"b47d7cdd-5fe8-4687-a449-5c936b31f3c9","order_by":3,"name":"Ai Kah Ng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Malaya Faculty of Medicine: Universiti Malaya Faculty of Medicine","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ai","middleName":"Kah","lastName":"Ng","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-21 05:13:35","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7173391/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7173391/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":90940943,"identity":"750758dd-55dc-4ca6-ba74-e0d910cf27b3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-09 18:08:29","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":478151,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"JURHFISUNV2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7173391/v1_covered_617faa53-394e-43d9-a179-a4d82f322225.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eHousehold Food Insecurity and Childhood Undernutrition Among Residents of Low-cost Public Housing: A Cross-sectional Study in Malaysia\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Household Food Insecurity, Stunting, Underweight, Wasting, Undernutrition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7173391/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7173391/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Urbanization in Malaysia has led to an increase in the number of low-income households vulnerable to food insecurity. This study investigates the prevalence of household food insecurity (HFIS) and its association with childhood undernutrition among low-income families in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2022 to July 2023 among 275 households with children aged 6–59 months. Household food insecurity was assessed using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), and nutritional outcomes—stunting, underweight, and wasting—were measured using WHO standards. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with HFIS and its link to undernutrition. Over half (57.1%) of the surveyed households experienced food insecurity. The prevalence of undernutrition was 36.4% for stunting, 20.6% for underweight, and 15.7% for wasting. Households with income below the poverty line (RM2208/month, ~USD470/month) were more likely to experience HFIS (adjusted odds ratio, aOR 2.09, 95% CI: 1.19–3.68, p\u0026lt;0.01). 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