Table 2.

Characteristics of last-born children under 2 years of age and children who received a prelacteal feed, by demographic and socio-economic characteristics, in twenty-two sub-Saharan African countries, 2010 to 2014

	Total*		PLF		Crude odds*
Characteristic	n	%	%†	P value‡	OR	95 % CI	P value
Mother’s age at birth (years)
≤19	14 994	15·7	37·3	<0·001	Ref.		Ref.
20–34	65 915	69·1	30·9		0·84	0·81, 0·88	<0·001
≥35	14 439	15·1	33·4		0·91	0·86, 0·96	<0·001
Mother’s education
No education	42 797	44·9	42·5	<0·001	1·82	1·75, 1·89	<0·001
Primary	29 630	31·1	22·2		0·78	0·74, 0·81	<0·001
Secondary or above	22 906	24·0	26·2		Ref.		Ref.
Mother’s occupation
Non-working	33 357	35·4	32·0	<0·001	Ref.		Ref.
Working	60 905	64·6	32·3		0·98	0·95, 1·01	0·126
Wealth index
Lowest	23 616	24·8	39·1	<0·001	1·22	1·16, 1·28	<0·001
Second	20 770	21·8	34·7		1·13	1·08, 1·19	<0·001
Middle	19 045	20·0	30·4		1·01	0·96, 1·06	0·691
Fourth	17 245	18·1	28·0		0·98	0·93, 1·04	0·528
Highest	14 672	15·4	26·5		Ref.		Ref.
Place of residence
Urban	26 913	28·2	29·7	<0·001	Ref.		Ref.
Rural	68 435	71·8	33·3		1·13	1·09, 1·17	<0·001
Combined birth rank and interval
1st birth rank	19 700	20·7	33·5	<0·001	0·99	0·95, 1·03	0·605
2nd–3rd birth rank, ≤24 months	5785	6·1	32·1		0·96	0·90, 1·02	0·170
2nd–3rd birth rank,>24 months	26 837	28·2	29·0		0·83	0·80, 0·86	<0·001
≥4th birth rank, ≤24 months	6871	7·2	33·9		1·07	1·01, 1·14	0·017
≥4th birth rank,>24 months	35 974	37·8	33·5		Ref.		Ref.
Sex of child
Male	48 248	50·6	32·6	<0·001	1·02	1·00, 1·06	0·106
Female	47 100	49·4	31·8		Ref.		Ref.
Child’s size at birth
Large	37 236	39·7	30·5	<0·001	Ref.		Ref.
Average	41 417	44·1	31·7		1·01	0·98, 1·04	0·554
Small	15 254	16·2	37·9		1·33	1·28, 1·39	<0·001

PLF, prelacteal feeding; Ref., reference category.

^*Unweighted.

^†Based on pooled sample weights, derived from women’s individual weights and population size of women aged 15–49 years in the respective countries.

^‡ P value was based on Pearson’s χ ².