Relationship Between Nutritional Knowledge and Economic Status with Chronic Energy Deficiency in Pregnant Women in Selatan Konawe

Background: Nutritional problems, especially on pregnant women, are still a public health problem in Indonesia. One of the diseases caused by malnutrition in pregnant women, which shows that the number of cases is still high, is chronic energy deficiency. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between knowledge of nutrients in food and economic status with the incidence of chronic energy deficiency on pregnant women.

Materials and Methods: This type of research is quantitative with a case control approach. The population in this study is divided into two, namely the population of cases and controls. The case population was pregnant women with 309 people, while the control population was all pregnant women who did not have chronic energy efficiency is 952 people, totaling population it was 1361 people. The sample size in each group was 344 respondents. The case sample was taken by simple random sampling while the control sample was taken by systematic random sampling. Data were obtained using a questionnaire then analyzed descriptively and inferentially using the Chi Square test and Odds Ratio.

Results: The results showed that there was a relationship between knowledge and the incidence of chronic energy deficiency on pregnant women, where it was obtained that x² count = 6,768> x² table = 3,841 and OR was 2,159, meaning that pregnant women with knowledge of nutrients in food were categorized as less having a risk of 2,159 times greater. To suffer from chronic energy deficiency compared to pregnant women who have good knowledge of nutrition in their diet. The results also showed that there was a relationship between economic status and the incidence of chronic energy deficiency on pregnant women, where the x² count = 4,585> x² table = 3,841 and the OR of 1,688. This means that pregnant women with low economic status have a 1,688 times greater risk of suffering from chronic energy deficiency compared to pregnant women with sufficient economic status.

Conclusion: Knowledge and economic status are factors that are related to the incidence of chronic energy deficiency in pregnant women in South Konawe District. Therefore, it is hoped that the government through the health office can facilitate increased public knowledge about the importance of nutritional intake for pregnant women and it is also hoped that the government will provide stimulants for pregnant women with low economic status.