Food insecurity and associated factors among adult cancer patients in south Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

The incidence of cancer is increasing in Ethiopia, and it poses significant financial burden on households. However, data on the prevalence of household food insecurity and associated factors among adult cancer patients in Africa is scarce. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of food insecurity and identify factors associated with it among adult cancer patients in Southern Ethiopia. A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 338 cancer patients from November 2023 to February 2024. Binary logistic regression model was built in RStudio. The prevalence of food insecurity among cancer patients in this study was 64.2% (95% CI: 58.96–69.16). An increase in age (AOR = 0.97 95% CI; (0.94, 0.99), being married (AOR = 0.37 95% CI; (0.19, 0.74), taking chemotherapy (AOR = 0.27 95% CI; (0.14, 0.51), and an increase in the number of chemotherapy cycles (AOR = 0.83 95% CI; (0.74, 0.92) were associated with lower odds of food insecurity. On the other hand, the odds of being food insecure was higher among participants with poorer performance status (AOR = 1.65 95% CI; (1.21, 2.32). Integrating brief food-insecurity screening into routine oncology visits can help identify patients at risk. Addressing food insecurity should be a core component of comprehensive cancer care in low-resource settings.