Table 1.
Sociodemographic characteristics and nutritional status: young children (n 76) aged 12–23 months from a highland village and a lowland village in Gobalafto district, North Wollo, northern Ethiopia, August–October 2010
| All (n 76) | Highlands (n 32) | Lowlands (n 39) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n or Mean | % or sd | n or Mean | % or sd | n or Mean | % or sd | |
| Sociodemographic characteristics | ||||||
| Mean age of child (months) | 18·3 | 4·4 | 19·2 | 3·7 | 17·4 | 4·8 |
| Proportion of male children | 43 | 57 | 22 | 60 | 21 | 54 |
| Mean age of mother (years) | 28·8 | 10·3 | 27·2 | 6·5 | 30·2 | 12·9 |
| Mothers with some formal education* | 26 | 34 | 10 | 27 | 16 | 41 |
| Mean number of children† | 2·3 | 1·5 | 2·7 | 1·6 | 2·0 | 1·3 |
| Livelihood activities (housewives) | 60 | 79 | 25 | 68 | 35 | 90 |
| Owns a sanitary facility (latrine)* | 60 | 79 | 25 | 68 | 35 | 90 |
| Owns ≥1 ha of land* | 27 | 36 | 5 | 14 | 22 | 56 |
| Owns cows | 26 | 34 | 14 | 38 | 12 | 36 |
| Owns chickens* | 42 | 55 | 28 | 76 | 14 | 36 |
| Anthropometric indices | ||||||
| Mean LAZ | –1·32 | 1·39 | –1·59 | 1·45 | –1·02 | 1·31 |
| Mean WAZ | –1·26 | 1·11 | –1·32 | 1·06 | –1·19 | 1·15 |
| Mean WLZ | –0·84 | 0·92 | –0·73 | 0·47 | –0·94 | 1·05 |
| Stunted* | 25 | 33 | 16 | 46 | 9 | 24 |
| Underweight | 21 | 28 | 11 | 31 | 10 | 27 |
| Wasted | 9 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 19 |
LAZ, length-for-age Z-score; WAZ, weight-for-age Z-score; WLZ, weight-for-length Z-score.
*Difference between highland and lowland sites was statistically significant according to Fisher's exact test (one-tailed): P = 0·03 for mother's education; P = 0·02 for owns a sanitary facility (latrine); P = 0·001 for owns ≥1 ha of land; P = 0·009 for own chickens; P = 0·05 for stunted.
†Difference between highlands and lowlands was statistically significant according to Student's t test (two-tailed), equality of variances not assumed: P = 0·05.