Table 1.

Distribution of sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics according to interpregnancy interval in cohort of 456 889 Latin American and Caribbean women delivering singleton infants, 1985-97. Figures are percentage of women

Characteristic	Interpregnancy interval (months)
	0-5 (n=12 704)	6-11 (n=63 415)	12-17 (n=67 327)	18-23 (n=59 372)	24-59 (n=164 781)	⩾60 (n=89 290)
Maternal age (years):
⩽19	20.0	18.0	14.7	9.7	4.5	0.6
20-34	72.3	74.2	75.9	79.3	81.6	68.9
⩾35	7.7	7.8	9.4	11.0	13.9	30.5
No of previous deliveries:
1	38.7	40.6	40.3	36.4	39.6	36.3
2	26.1	23.0	23.9	23.9	24.7	29.4
⩾3	35.2	36.4	35.8	39.7	35.7	34.3
History of miscarriage:
Yes	40.7	27.4	23.3	22.7	24.3	27.1
No	59.3	72.6	76.7	77.3	75.7	72.9
History of fetal death:
Yes	5.7	5.5	4.4	4.2	3.3	2.7
No	94.3	94.5	95.6	95.8	96.7	97.3
History of early neonatal death:
Yes	4.4	4.2	3.2	3.8	2.9	2.8
No	95.6	95.8	96.8	96.2	97.1	97.2
Previous caesarean delivery:
Yes	11.7	16.2	15.5	16.9	15.8	13.5
No	88.3	83.8	84.5	83.1	84.2	86.5
Mother living with infant's father:
Yes	85.7	86.3	85.2	85.8	85.6	86.7
No	14.3	13.7	14.8	14.2	14.4	13.3
Mother's education:
None	3.7	3.7	4.6	4.5	4.4	3.6
Elementary	51.9	54.5	54.6	54.6	51.2	52.0
Secondary	40.0	37.1	35.5	36.5	39.2	40.2
University	4.4	4.7	5.3	4.4	5.2	4.2
Gestation at start of prenatal care (weeks):
1-13	17.6	22.0	24.8	25.5	31.0	34.5
14-26	44.2	45.7	43.7	44.6	43.3	44.6
⩾27	38.2	32.3	31.5	29.9	25.7	20.9
No of prenatal visits:
0	27.7	23.2	21.7	21.2	17.3	12.8
1-4	37.2	39.2	37.0	36.5	32.1	27.3
⩾5	35.1	37.6	41.3	42.3	50.6	59.9
Cigarette smoking:
Yes	12.4	11.5	11.3	11.7	11.8	12.6
No	87.6	88.5	88.7	88.3	88.2	87.4
Body mass index (kg/m2) before pregnancy:
<19.8	16.2	16.4	16.9	16.8	16.5	10.2
19.8-26.0	64.8	61.8	61.9	63.8	61.5	61.0
26.1-29.0	10.9	13.4	11.5	9.5	11.1	14.2
>29.0	8.1	8.4	9.7	9.9	10.9	14.6
History of chronic hypertension:
Yes	0.9	1.2	1.2	1.6	1.6	3.3
No	99.1	98.8	98.8	98.4	98.4	96.7