Prevalence of depression and its association with food security and sociodemographic factors among adult residents of a low-income urban settlement in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Globally, the prevalence of depression is on the rise. Moreover, food insecurity is contributing to adverse mental health challenges like depression and anxiety. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aims to estimate the prevalence of screening-based depression, its associated sociodemographic factors and relationship with food security among the adults from a low-cost urban settlement in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A community-based cross sectional was performed via face-to-face interviews using nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the six-component food security module of the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) among 311 residents of one of the randomly selected blocks in the Seri Pantai People’s Housing Project.