Background: Both household food insecurity and household dietary diversity have been found reliable in describing the dietary intake of a population. However, it had not been proven as reliable instrument for assessing nutritional status of individuals in a clinical context. There has been a need for evidence on the validity of using proxy and easy dietary indicators for nutritional status.
Method: A facility based cross sectional study design was employed on 423 people with HIV infection visiting all ART clinics in Bahir Dar, North Ethiopia. Nutritional status was determined by computing BMI. Food insecurity was assessed using household food insecurity access scale. Dietary diversity was measured using a tool adopted from Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project. Data were entered to Epidata version 3.1and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Reliability analysis, sensitivity and specificity analysis were determined.
Result: The sensitivity of the household food insecurity access scale and dietary diversity score was 87.9% and 79.8%, respectively, while their specificity was 56.2% and 70.2%. The AUC at 95% CI for the household food insecurity access scale and household dietary diversity score were 73.4 (68.4-78.4) and 73.1 (68.1-78.2) while their cut of point that maximized their sensitivity and specificity was 1 and 6 respectively. Household food insecurity access scale and household dietary diversity score were found to be reliable tools with a Cronbach's Alpha of 0.926 and 0.799, respectively.
Conclusion: In assessing under nutrition among PLHIV especially in limited resource settings, both the household food insecurity access scale and household dietary diversity score were found valid and reliable proxy indicators for measuring nutritional status.