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Prevalence and risk factors for pica during pregnancy in Tehran, Iran

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction and objectives

Pica is an eating disorder characterized by the persistent ingestion of substances that the consumer does not define as food. The exact cause of pica is often unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of pica during pregnancy and its related risk factors.

Method

This cross-sectional study was carried out in health care centers in west of Tehran. Three hundred women were selected by stratified sampling method from the population. Demographic information and characteristics of pica during pregnancy, such as the kind, the onset, duration, frequency and the reasons, and also iron supplementation status before and during pregnancy and kind of infant feeding were collected via interview and questionnaire. The data were analyzed by chi square test and logistic regression in SPSS 16.

Results

The prevalence of pica among the studied population was 8.33 %, and pagophagia (ice and freezer frost) was the most common form of pica which is characterized by the ingestion of non-food substance (76 %). Sixty-four percent of women reported practicing pica regularly on a daily basis. In this study, there was significant association between pica practice and education, unwanted pregnancy, pregnancy complications, the levels of economic satisfaction, iron supplementation during pregnancy, kind of infant feeding, and type of delivery. However, there was no significant association between pica and age, employment, pregnancy ranks, the history of abortions or stillbirths, infant sex, and iron supplementation before pregnancy.

Conclusions

Iron supplementation during pregnancy should be more considered. Also women with low education should be asked concerning pregnancy pica.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank from Children Growth Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran and Deputy of Research, Qazvin University of Medical and Health Sciences, Qazvin, Iran, for financial support (Grant No. D.44.21039). Thanks are due to the mothers who participated in our study. We would also like to thank the health care staff for cooperation in collecting the data.

Conflict of interest

Authors have no conflict of interests.

Ethical approval

The protocol was approved by the Research Council and Ethical Committee of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, No. D.44.21039. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with 1964 Helsiki deceleration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

    Neda Ezzeddin, Rosa Zavoshy & Shaghayegh Hadizadeh Riseh

  2. Children Growth Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

    Mostafa Noroozi & Hassan Jahanihashemi

  3. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Shaghayegh Hadizadeh Riseh

Authors
  1. Neda Ezzeddin
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  2. Rosa Zavoshy
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  3. Mostafa Noroozi
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  4. Hassan Jahanihashemi
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  5. Shaghayegh Hadizadeh Riseh
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Correspondence to Mostafa Noroozi.

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Ezzeddin, N., Zavoshy, R., Noroozi, M. et al. Prevalence and risk factors for pica during pregnancy in Tehran, Iran. Eat Weight Disord 20, 457–463 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-015-0198-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-015-0198-8

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