Table 1.
Characteristics of study participants from 40 country-ethnicity specific population groups from the 27 ICMD contributing individual studies included in this analysis.
| Number of parous and nulliparous women | BMI* (kg/m2) (Mean ± SD) | Number of parous women | Age at First Birth$ (Years) (Mean ± SD) | Parity* (Number of births) (Mean ± SD) | Breastfeed ever$ (%) | Total breastfeeding duration$ (Months) (Mean ± SD) | Total breastfeeding duration$ (Months) (Median (IQR)) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total study sample | 10,988 | 27.0 ± 5.7 | 9773 | 24.3 ± 5.1 | 2.7 ± 1.8 | 80.4 | 23.7 ± 34.8 | 10.0 (28.0) | |
| Individual study | Country-ethnicity specific population groups | ||||||||
| Australia | Australia-Australian | 393 | 25.7 ± 4.6 | 320 | 25.9 ± 4.9 | 2.2 ± 1.5 | 78.4 | 12.0 ± 12.8 | 8.5 (17.0) |
| Australia-Greek | 141 | 29.7 ± 4.4 | 138 | 24.8 ± 4.7 | 2.6 ± 0.9 | 84.8 | 11.0 ± 12.6 | 7.0 (13.0) | |
| Australia-Italian | 171 | 29.3 ± 5.0 | 164 | 24.0 ± 3.7 | 2.7 ± 1.2 | 85.9 | 12.0 ± 11.3 | 9.0 (14.0) | |
| Canada | Canada-White | 379 | 25.3 ± 5.7 | 276 | 26.9 ± 5.5 | 1.7 ± 1.4 | 77.3 | 12.1 ± 16.8 | 6 (16.5) |
| Chile | Chile-Mestizo/Hispanic | 186 | 29.1 ± 5.3 | 186 | 22.9 ± 4.9 | 3.0 ± 1.3 | 99.5 | 39.0 ± 35.3 | 28.5 (33.0) |
| Egypt | Egypt-Egyptian | 463 | 33.7 ± 6.7 | 433 | 23.4 ± 5.5 | 4.0 ± 2.7 | 93.8 | - | - |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong-Chinese | 198 | 22.2 ± 2.9 | 130 | 29.0 ± 4.7 | 1.3 ± 1.1 | 71.4 | 5.8 ± 8.7 | 2.3 (7.0) |
| India | India-Indian | 181 | 22.2 ± 4.4 | 170 | 15.4 ± 3.4 | 3.4 ± 1.5 | 100.0 | 82.3 ± 33.2 | 72.0 (36.0) |
| Iran | Iran-Persian | 392 | 29.3 ± 4.2 | 392 | 18.8 ± 3.8 | 3.6 ± 1.7 | 97.2 | 60.3 ± 40.1 | 54.0 (43.0) |
| Israel | Israel-Arab | 345 | 30.6 ± 5.4 | 263 | 22.5 ± 4.7 | 5.0 ± 2.8 | 91.2 | 37.3 ± 31.7 | 30.0 (34.0) |
| Israel-Jewish | 374 | 26.0 ± 5.0 | 336 | 25.3 ± 4.5 | 2.8 ± 1.2 | 78.1 | 9.7 ± 10.1 | 6.0 (13.5) | |
| Japan | Japan-Japanese | 384 | 22.8 ± 3.1 | 375 | 25.1 ± 2.9 | 2.3 ± 0.8 | 91.9 | 19.7 ± 17.0 | 15.0 (22.0) |
| Kenya | Kenya-Black | 270 | 30.0 ± 5.0 | 261 | 24.2 ± 4.3 | 3.0 ± 1.6 | 100.0 | 49.6 ± 36.7 | 42.0 (48.0) |
| Korea | Korea-Korean | 389 | 23.1 ± 2.7 | 350 | 25.9 ± 3.2 | 1.8 ± 0.9 | 78.4 | 19.5 ± 9.0 | 24.0 (9.0) |
| Malaysia | Malaysia-Chinese | 394 | 23.5 ± 3.4 | 391 | 27.8 ± 4.3 | 2.6 ± 1.0 | 71.4 | 6.2 ± 10.5 | 3.0 (7.0) |
| Malaysia-Indian | 247 | 26.9 ± 4.7 | 219 | 26.9 ± 5.6 | 2.4 ± 1.4 | 82.8 | 12.8 ± 18.5 | 6.0 (14.0) | |
| Malaysia-Malay | 217 | 27.5 ± 4.6 | 192 | 26.4 ± 4.2 | 3.2 ± 1.8 | 94.6 | 37.6 ± 39.8 | 22.5 (46.5) | |
| Mexico | Mexico-NS | 147 | 28.2 ± 4.7 | 126 | 25.5 ± 4.9 | 2.4 ± 1.6 | 90.4 | 14.1 ± 14.1 | 12.0 (15.0) |
| Netherlands | Netherlands-NS | 361 | 25.7 ± 4.0 | 323 | 25.1 ± 4.2 | 2.3 ± 1.4 | 78.8 | 5.2 ± 6.3 | 3 (7.5) |
| Norway | Norway-White | 196 | 24.8 ± 3.8 | 181 | 24.6 ± 4.1 | 2.6 ± 1.4 | - | - | - |
| Poland | Poland-White | 396 | 27.3 ± 4.7 | 350 | 25.1 ± 3.8 | 1.5 ± 0.8 | 70.9 | 8.4 ± 14.6 | 3.5 (9.0) |
| Singapore | Singapore-Chinese | 196 | 24.0 ± 3.9 | 183 | 24.3 ± 4.7 | 3.6 ± 2.2 | 57.4 | 20.4 ± 45.0 | 2.0 (24.0) |
| Singapore-Indian | 199 | 26.4 ± 4.6 | 186 | 20.9 ± 5.1 | 4.2 ± 2.4 | 78.5 | 33.0 ± 40.8 | 16.5 (52.0) | |
| Singapore-Malay | 197 | 27.6 ± 4.5 | 186 | 20.3 ± 4.5 | 5.5 ± 3.1 | 82.3 | 53.3 ± 58.8 | 33.0 (77.0) | |
| South Africa | South Africa-Black | 371 | 32.2 ± 6.8 | 339 | 20.8 ± 4.4 | 3.0 ± 2.0 | 88.0 | 70.8 ± 56.2 | 54.0 (68.0) |
| Spain | Spain-White | 758 | 27.8 ± 4.8 | 683 | 25.3 ± 4.4 | 2.0 ± 1.1 | 76.4 | 8.3 ± 11.4 | 5.0 (9.0) |
| Turkey | Turkey-Turkish | 395 | 27.1 ± 4.9 | 378 | 23.5 ± 5.1 | 2.3 ± 1.4 | 92.6 | - | - |
| UK, London | UK-London-White | 159 | 26.0 ± 5.3 | 159 | 26.4 ± 6.2 | 1.4 ± 1.3 | 79.2 | 15.0 ± 19.2 | 9.5 (15.0) |
| UK-Age Trial | UK-Age Trial-White1995 | 159 | 27.4 ± 5.6 | 138 | 26.0 ± 5.2 | 1.9 ± 1.0 | 75.0 | - | - |
| UK Ethnicity | UK-Eth Black | 217 | 28.6 ± 5.7 | 198 | 22.7 ± 5.2 | 3.5 ± 1.9 | 77.5 | 13.7 ± 15.7 | 9.0 (19.0) |
| UK-Eth-South Asian | 133 | 26.9 ± 5.9 | 119 | 23.6 ± 5.0 | 3.4 ± 1.9 | 75.2 | 44.0 ± 60.1 | 21.0 (42.0) | |
| UK-Eth-White1995 | 245 | 25.8 ± 5.3 | 191 | 24.7 ± 5.9 | 2.2 ± 1.7 | 53.1 | 4.3 ± 7.7 | 0.0 (6.0) | |
| US-Mayo | US-Mayo-White | 397 | 28.2 ± 6.5 | 342 | 25.1 ± 4.7 | 2.2 ± 1.5 | 59.5 | - | - |
| US-MEC Hawaii | US-MEC-Hawaiian | 142 | 28.9 ± 6.3 | 133 | 22.9 ± 4.1 | 3.2 ± 1.7 | - | - | - |
| US-MEC-Japanese | 239 | 24.0 ± 4.3 | 210 | 25.3 ± 4.3 | 2.4 ± 1.4 | - | - | - | |
| US-MEC-White | 153 | 25.5 ± 5.5 | 127 | 24.8 ± 5.2 | 2.3 ± 1.6 | - | - | - | |
| US-NHS/NHS2 | US-NHS/NHS2-White | 397 | 26.3 ± 5.6 | 351 | 25.5 ± 3.8 | 2.3 ± 1.4 | 76.0 | 11.2 ± 12.7 | 9.0 (14.5) |
| US-USC € | US-USC-Asian | 51 | 23.2 ± 3.1 | 45 | 28.0 ± 4.7 | 2.2 ± 1.8 | 0.0 | - | - |
| US-USC-Black | 112 | 28.0 ± 6.1 | 97 | 21.3 ± 4.5 | 2.4 ± 2.0 | 42.3 | - | - | |
| US-USC-White | 162 | 25.6 ± 5.2 | 132 | 23.6 ± 4.6 | 2.1 ± 1.4 | 59.1 | - | - | |
Where (-) = Data not collected in individual study, (*) = Among parous and nulliparous women, ($) = Among parous women (Note: The number of parous women differed for ever/never breastfed and lifetime breastfeeding duration as this data was not available in each individual study), (€) = This study was excluded for ever/never breastfed analyses, SD = Standard deviation, BMI = Body mass index, IQR = Interquartile range