Table 1. Selected characteristics of the participating women, overall and by birth outcome.
| Socio-economic characteristics | Total, n = 934 | PTB, n = 146 | p-value | LBW, n = 147 | p-value | SGA, n = 187 | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at inclusion, mean (SD) | 29.3 (6.5) | 30.1 (6.6) | .099 | 29.0 (6.1) | .484 | 28.7 (6.1) | .159 |
| Rural residence, n (%) | 605 (64.8) | 106 (72.6) | .031 | 88 (59.9) | .170 | 114 (61.0) | .249 |
| Orthodox Christians in religion, n (%) | 922 (98.7%) | 146 (100.0) | .621d | 146 (99.3) | .217d | 185 (98.9) | .100d |
| Educational status, n (%) | .212e | .324e | .538e | ||||
| No formal education | 338 (36.2) | 62 (42.5) | 52 (35.4) | 67 (35.8) | |||
| Primary education | 307 (32.9) | 41 (28.1) | 42 (28.6) | 57 (30.5) | |||
| Secondary education or above | 289 (30.9) | 43 (29.5) | 53 (36.1) | 63 (33.7) | |||
| Occupation, n (%) | .438 | .443 | .746 | ||||
| Farmer | 506 (54.1) | 86 (58.9) | 73 (49.7) | 98 (52.4) | |||
| Housewife | 321 (34.4) | 44 (30.1) | 57 (38.8) | 69 (36.9) | |||
| Othersa | 107 (11.5) | 16 (11.0) | 17 (11.5) | 20 (10.7) | |||
| Household size including the newborn, mean (SD) | 5.5 (2.0) | 4.7 (2.2) | .066 | 4.6 (2.1) | .562 | 4.5 (2.1) | .887 |
| Quintiles of wealth index, n (%) | .016 | .782 | .819 | ||||
| Lowest | 189 (20.2) | 39 (26.7) | 31 (21.1) | 33 (17.7) | |||
| Low | 185 (19.8) | 23 (15.8) | 24 (16.3) | 37 (19.8) | |||
| Middle | 190 (20.4) | 21 (14.4) | 30 (20.4) | 41 (21.9) | |||
| High | 186 (19.9) | 25 (17.1) | 33 (22.5) | 41 (21.9) | |||
| Highest | 184 (19.7) | 38 (26.0) | 29 (19.7) | 35 (18.7) | |||
| Model household, n (%) | 229 (24.5) | 29 (18.9) | .187 | 24 (16.3) | .021 | 32 (17.1) | .016 |
| History of pre-pregnancy illness, n (%) | 128 (13.7) | 31 (21.2) | .693 | 41 (27.9) | .073 | 52 (27.8) | .017 |
| History of chronic non-communicable diseasesb, n (%) | 15 (1.6) | 2 (1.4) | .576 | 1 (0.7) | .281 | 2 (1.1) | .385 |
| Perceived work burden, n (%) | .008 | .442 | .375 | ||||
| Easy | 383 (41.0) | 51 (34.9) | 53 (36.1) | 66 (35.3) | |||
| Moderate | 414 (44.3) | 33 (22.6) | 20 (13.6) | 24 (12.8) | |||
| Difficult | 137 (14.7) | 62 (42.5) | 74 (50.3) | 97 (51.9) | |||
| Total social support score, mean (SD) | 21.3 (3.8) | 20.9 (3.5) | .243 | 20.1 (4.1) | .000 | 20.1 (4.0) | .000 |
| Low total social support, n (%) | 72 (7.7) | 11 (7.5) | 23 (15.7) | 27 (14.4) | |||
| At least one stressful life events, n (%) | 343 (36.7) | 283 (82.5) | .233 | 279 (82.3) | .272 | 266 (78.5) | .479 |
| Reproductive and obstetric conditions | |||||||
| Parity including index birth outcome, mean (SD) | 3.6 (2.3) | 3.9 (2.4) | .086 | 3.6 (2.2) | .990 | 3.6 (2.2) | .633 |
| History of adverse birth outcome, n (%) | 187 (20.0) | 29 (19.9) | .100 | 26 (17.7) | .390 | 39 (20.9) | .914 |
| Unplanned index pregnancy, n (%) | 379 (40.6) | 77 (53.0) | .002 | 63 (42.9) | .585 | 72 (38.5) | .522 |
| Intimate partner violence score, mean (SD) | 6.9 (3.0) | 7.0 (3.2) | .823 | 7.7 (3.4) | .001 | 7.9 (3.3) | .000 |
| Intimate partner violence, n (%) | 151 (16.2) | 28 (19.2) | 39 (26.5) | 53 (28.3) | |||
| Women empowerment score, mean (SD) | 5.6 (1.5) | 5.5 (1.5) | .412 | 5.1 (1.3) | .000 | 5.2 (1.4) | .000 |
| Empowered women, n (%) | 104 (11.3) | 16 (11.0) | 8 (5.4) | 12 (6.4) | |||
| Adequacy of prenatal care, n (%) | .267 | .046e | .042e | ||||
| Inadequate | 385 (41.2) | 67 (45.9) | 72 (49.0) | 90 (48.1) | |||
| Intermediate | 112 (12.0) | 20 (13.7) | 16 (10.9) | 20 (10.7) | |||
| Adequate or adequate plus | 437 (46.7) | 59 (40.4) | 59 (40.3) | 77 (41.1) | |||
| History of illness during pregnancyc, n (%) | 210 (22.5) | 31 (21.2) | .693 | 41 (27.9) | .073 | 52 (27.8) | .017 |
| Al least one pregnancy complication, n (%) | 506 (54.2) | 73 (50.0) | .271 | 82 (55.8) | .692 | 102 (54.6) | .937 |
| Hypertensive at 32–36 weeks, n (%) | 57 (6.1) | 11 (7.5) | .431 | 15 (10.2) | .033 | 18 (9.6) | .031 |
| Negative Rhesus factor, n (%) | 23 (2.5) | 2 (1.4) | .560 | 2 (1.4) | .556 | 5 (2.7) | .784 |
| Nutritional characteristics | |||||||
| Food insecurity score, median (IQR) | 0 (0–8) | 0 (0–9) | .195f | 0 (0–10) | .001f | 0 (0–10) | .000f |
| Food insecure, n (%) | 361 (38.7) | 61 (41.8) | 70 (47.6) | 92 (49.2) | |||
| Dietary diversity score, mean (SD) | 4.6 (1.4) | 4.5 (1.4) | .283 | 4.5 (1.3) | .246 | 4.4 (1.3) | .077 |
| Adequate dietary diversity, n (%) | 336 (36) | 68 (46.6) | 70 (47.6) | 86 (46.0) | |||
| Fasting, n (%) | 650 (69.6) | 117 (80.1) | .004 | 110 (74.8) | .140 | 14 (75.9) | .047 |
| Alcohol intake at least once per week, n (%) | 221 (23.7) | 35 (24.0) | .638 | 31 (21.1) | .403 | 45 (24.1) | .995 |
| Coffee intake per day, mean number of times (SD) | 1.5 (1.0) | 1.5 (0.1) | .742 | 1.4 (0.1) | .455 | 1.4 (0.1) | .673 |
| Height in cm, mean (SD) | 157.4 (0.06) | 157.5 (0.06) | .935 | 157.2 (0.06) | .594 | 157.1 (0.06) | .517 |
| Pre-pregnancy BMI kg/m2, mean (SD) | 19.7 (2.0) | 19.3 (2.1) | .009 | 18.8 (2.1) | .000 | 18.8 (1.9) | .000 |
| Pre-pregnancy BMI <18.5 kg/m2, n (%) | 335 (35.9) | 69 (47.3) | 89 (60.5) | 110 (58.8) | |||
| Hemoglobin in g/dL, mean (SD) | 11.9 (1.6) | 10.9 (0.12) | .000 | 10.4 (0.12) | .000 | 10.6 (0.11) | .000 |
| Hemoglobin <11 g/dL, n (%) | 271 (30.7) | 58 (40.6) | 39 (26.5) | 62 (33.7) | |||
| Gestational weight gain in kg, mean (SD) | 10.6 (2.3) | 9.0 (1.8) | .000 | 8.7 (1.7) | .000 | 8.8 (1.7) | .000 |
| Inadequate gestational weight gain, n (%) | 598 (64.0) | 135 (92.5) | 138 (93.9) | 174 (93.1) |
aStudents, unemployed, and so on,
bConsists of diabetes, hypertension and distress,
cincludes diarrheal diseases, malaria, HIV, other venereal diseases, hepatitis, and others,
dFisher’s exact test,
echi-square test for trend, and
fMann-Whitney-U tests.
PTB, preterm birth; LBW, low birth weight; and SGA, small for gestational age. P-values indicate the difference in distribution between PTB versus non-PTB, LBW versus non-LBW, and SGA versus non-SGA by the respective characteristics of the women.