Table 2. Characteristics of children younger than 5 years according to Escherichia coli contamination status of household water, 29 low- and middle-income countries or territories, 2017–2020.

Characteristic	No. children living in households without or with E. coli contamination (%)a		Difference, % points	P
	Without (n = 8 514)	With (n = 26 498)
Age of child, months (SD)	29.5 (17.1)	29.2 (17.2)	0.3	0.164
No. siblings (SD)	3.1 (2.2)	3.6 (1.8)	−0.5	0.000
Age of household head, years (SD)	41.4 (13.2)	40.6 (12.9)	0.8	0.000
No. in household (SD)	6.6 (3.9)	7.3 (4.4)	−0.7	0.000
Age of mother, years (SD)	30.3 (7.0)	29.2 (6.6)	1.1	0.000
Stunting	1 148 (13.5)	6 933 (26.2)	−12.7	0.000
Underweight	493 (5.8)	3 988 (15.1)	−9.3	0.000
Sex of child
Male	4 320 (50.7)	13 344 (50.4)	0.3	0.612
Female	4 194 (49.3)	13 154 (49.6)	−0.3	0.542
Sex of household head
Male	7 572 (88.9)	22 969 (86.7)	2.2	0.000
Female	942 (11.1)	3 529 (13.3)	−2.2	0.000
Education level of household head
None	1 092 (12.8)	7 622 (28.8)	−16.0	0.000
Primary	2 031 (23.9)	8 691 (32.8)	−8.9	0.000
Secondary	2 328 (27.3)	6 046 (22.8)	4.5	0.000
Higher	3 063 (36.0)	4 139 (15.6)	20.4	0.000
Education level of mother
None	989 (11.6)	8 095 (30.5)	−18.9	0.000
Primary	1 994 (23.4)	8 342 (31.5)	−8.1	0.000
Secondary	2 298 (27.0)	6 447 (24.3)	2.7	0.000
Higher	3 233 (38.0)	3 614 (13.6)	24.4	0.000
Education level of father
None	626 (7.4)	5 286 (20.0)	−12.6	0.000
Primary	1 765 (20.7)	7 416 (28.0)	−7.3	0.000
Secondary	2 338 (27.5)	6 082 (23.0)	4.5	0.000
Higher	3 785 (44.5)	7 714 (29.0)	15.5	0.000
Residence
Urban	5 332 (62.6)	7 968 (30.1)	32.5	0.000
Rural	3 182 (37.4)	18 530 (69.9)	−32.6	0.000

E. coli: Escherichia coli; SD: standard deviation.

^a No. (%) presented if not otherwise indicated.