Table 2.
Feeding mode and proportion of illness in infants aged 3–5·9 months from eight large cities in China, Maternal Infant Nutrition and Growth (MING) study, October 2011–March 2012
| Total illness (%) | Diarrhoea (%) | Respiratory disease (%) | Allergic disease (%) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | EBF | MBF | EFF | EBF | MBF | EFF | EBF | MBF | EFF | EBF | MBF | EFF | |
| Total | 501 | 41·6 | 45·6 | 51·0 | 11·4 | 18·7 | 13·1 | 29·7 | 26·3 | 37·2 | 7·0 | 9·4 | 6·9 |
| Sex | |||||||||||||
| Girls | 228 | 43·5 | 45·7 | 50·0 | 12·0 | 22·9 | 9·1 | 29·4 | 27·1 | 36·4 | 8·7 | 2·9 | 4·6 |
| Boys | 272 | 39·8 | 46·0 | 51·9 | 10·8 | 16·0 | 16·5 | 30·1 | 26·0 | 38·0 | 5·4 | 14·0 | 8·9 |
| Birth weight | |||||||||||||
| Low birth weight | 2 | – | 100·0 | 100·0 | – | 100·0 | 100·0 | – | 0·0 | 0·0 | – | 0·0 | 0·0 |
| Adequate birth weight | 458 | 41·9 | 46·4 | 52·2 | 10·2 | 18·3 | 13·0 | 30·5 | 26·8 | 38·4 | 7·8 | 9·2 | 7·3 |
| Macrosomia | 40 | 41·2 | 35·3 | 16·7 | 23·5 | 17·7 | 0·0 | 23·5 | 23·5 | 16·7 | 0·0 | 5·9 | 0·0 |
| Delivery mode | |||||||||||||
| Spontaneous delivery | 231 | 41·8 | 41·0 | 50·0 | 6·6 | 19·2 | 12·9† | 33·0 | 23·1 | 33·9 | 4·4 | 10·3 | 6·5 |
| Caesarean delivery | 265 | 42·2 | 50·0 | 51·8 | 15·6 | 18·5 | 13·3 | 26·7 | 29·4 | 39·8 | 10·0 | 8·7 | 7·2 |
| Mother’s education | |||||||||||||
| Middle school or lower | 105 | 55·0 | 54·1 | 57·1 | 25·0 | 18·9 | 14·3 | 42·5 | 43·2 | 39·3 | 12·5 | 2·7 | 0·0* |
| High school and junior college | 232 | 43·2 | 45·0 | 45·1 | 7·4 | 22·5 | 11·3† | 33·3 | 21·3 | 33·8 | 3·7 | 7·5 | 7·0 |
| College and above | 164 | 31·3 | 40·7 | 56·5*,† | 7·8 | 13·0 | 15·2 | 17·2 | 22·2 | 41·3*,† | 7·8 | 16·7 | 10·9 |
| Monthly income (RMB) | |||||||||||||
| ≤2000 | 154 | 43·1 | 41·5 | 39·5 | 17·2 | 17·0 | 9·3 | 31·0 | 30·2 | 32·6 | 8·6 | 9·4 | 0·0 |
| 2001–4000 | 192 | 43·7 | 47·6 | 56·9 | 8·5 | 17·5 | 17·2 | 33·8 | 27·0 | 37·9 | 7·0 | 7·9 | 10·3 |
| >4000 | 136 | 37·0 | 48·1 | 52·6 | 6·5 | 23·1 | 7·9† | 23·9 | 21·2 | 42·1 | 6·5 | 11·5 | 10·5 |
EBF, exclusive breast-feeding; MBF, mixed feeding with breast milk and infant formula; EFF, exclusive formula-feeding; –, no data exist for this section.
Total illness included diarrhoea, respiratory disease, allergic disease and other illness. n varied slightly due to missing data on some variables.
*
P value from χ 2 test for trend <0·05 (EBF, MBF, EFF).
†
P value from χ 2 test <0·05 (EBF, MBF, EFF).