Table 1.
Baseline sociodemographic characteristics of the pregnant women with varying purchases of food of organic v. conventional origin, KOALA Birth Cohort Study, The Netherlands, 2000–2002 (n 1339)
| Conventional (reference) (n 767) | <50 % organic (n 441) | 50–90 % organic (n 73) | >90 % organic (n 58) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Mean or % | sd or n | Mean or % | sd or n | Mean or % | sd or n | Mean or % | sd or n |
| Age of the mother at delivery (years), mean and sd | 32·0 | 3·60 | 32·9 | 3·91 | 34·1 | 4·17 | 32·5 | 3·85 |
| Number of previous children | ||||||||
| 0 | 43·7 | 335 | 40·8 | 179 | 28·8 | 21 | 41·4 | 24 |
| 1 | 42·5 | 326 | 41·3 | 182 | 45·2 | 33 | 39·7 | 12 |
| 2 or more | 13·8 | 106 | 17·7 | 80 | 26·0 | 19 | 18·9 | 11 |
| Highest level of education | ||||||||
| Lower or lower-middle (vocational) | 8·4 | 64 | 5·4 | 24 | 11·0 | 8 | 5·2 | 3 |
| Mid-higher (vocational) | 38·5 | 295 | 30·4 | 134 | 20·5 | 15 | 27·6 | 16 |
| Higher (high vocational or academic) | 49·7 | 381 | 59·9 | 264 | 63·0 | 46 | 63·8 | 37 |
| Others | 3·5 | 27 | 4·3 | 19 | 5·5 | 4 | 3·4 | 2 |
| Mother born in the Netherlands | 97·8 | 743 | 94·6 | 417 | 94·5 | 69 | 93·1 | 54 |
| Living area (province) | ||||||||
| South (Limburg) | 41·1 | 315 | 29·7 | 131 | 17·8 | 13 | 17·2 | 10 |
| Mid-south (Brabant) | 37·7 | 289 | 25·9 | 114 | 24·7 | 18 | 20·7 | 12 |
| Mid-east and mid-north (Gelderland, Utrecht and other provinces) | 21·3 | 162 | 44·2 | 195 | 57·6 | 42 | 61·8 | 36 |
| Season when FFQ was filled out* | ||||||||
| Spring | 19·9 | 153 | 18·6 | 82 | 17·8 | 13 | 20·7 | 12 |
| Summer | 20·5 | 157 | 25·6 | 113 | 21·9 | 16 | 31·0 | 18 |
| Autumn | 26·5 | 203 | 28·6 | 126 | 30·1 | 22 | 24·1 | 14 |
| Winter | 33·1 | 254 | 27·2 | 120 | 30·1 | 22 | 24·1 | 14 |
Data are presented as % and n, unless indicated otherwise.
Missing data: for mother born in the Netherlands, n 1 in the conventional group; for living area (province), n 1 in the <50 % organic group.
*
Spring, 1 March–31 May; summer, 1 June–31 August; autumn, 1 September–30 November; winter, 1 December–end February. Blood sampling occurred two weeks after filling out the FFQ.