Table 1.
Sociodemographic and pregnancy-related characteristics of the study participants who completed the supplementation protocol, by areas with low and high iron in the groundwater, Bangladesh, April–October 2015
| High-groundwater-Fe areas (n 203) | Low-groundwater-Fe areas (n 192) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | n | % | n | % | P value* |
| Age (years) | |||||
| 13–19 | 46 | 22·2 | 45 | 23·4 | 0·085 |
| 20–24 | 56 | 27·6 | 69 | 35·9 | |
| ≥25 | 102 | 50·2 | 78 | 40·7 | |
| Parity | |||||
| Nulliparous | 69 | 34·0 | 74 | 38·5 | 0·560 |
| One | 82 | 40·4 | 76 | 39·6 | |
| Two or more | 52 | 25·6 | 42 | 21·9 | |
| Gestational age (weeks) | |||||
| ≤12 | 25 | 12·3 | 22 | 11·5 | 0·793 |
| >12 | 178 | 87·7 | 170 | 88·5 | |
| Participant’s education | |||||
| Functionally illiterate | 76 | 37·5 | 93 | 48·4 | 0·100 |
| Incomplete secondary | 92 | 45·3 | 71 | 37·0 | |
| Complete secondary and higher | 35 | 17·2 | 28 | 14·6 | |
| Husband’s education | |||||
| Functionally illiterate | 105 | 51·8 | 125 | 65·1 | 0·012 |
| Incomplete secondary | 48 | 23·6 | 39 | 20·3 | |
| Complete secondary and higher | 50 | 24·6 | 28 | 14·6 | |
| Husband’s occupation | |||||
| Unemployed/labourer | 54 | 26·6 | 94 | 49·0 | 0·001 |
| Agriculture | 67 | 33·0 | 46 | 24·0 | |
| Business | 49 | 24·1 | 31 | 16·1 | |
| Services | 33 | 16·3 | 21 | 10·9 | |
| Participant’s occupation | |||||
| No | 194 | 95·6 | 184 | 95·8 | 0·896 |
| Yes | 9 | 4·4 | 8 | 4·2 | |
| Household size | |||||
| Small, ≤4 | 125 | 61·6 | 110 | 57·3 | 0·216 |
| Large, ≥5 | 78 | 38·4 | 82 | 42·7 | |
| Homestead ownership | |||||
| Own homestead | 195 | 96·1 | 176 | 91·7 | 0·068 |
| Others | 8 | 3·9 | 16 | 8·3 | |
| Cultivable land ownership (acres†) | |||||
| No land | 104 | 51·2 | 117 | 60·9 | 0·014 |
| Small landholding, <0·50 | 63 | 30·9 | 34 | 17·7 | |
| Sizeable landholding, >0·50 | 36 | 17·9 | 41 | 21·4 | |
*
From χ2 test.
†
1 acre = 0·40 ha.