Table 2. Sample characteristics by dietary iron intake as assessed by food frequency questionnaire at 32 weeks gestation (n = 2958 for all, except where cord ferritin data is used: n = 795).
| Dietary iron intake | |||
| ≥14.8 mg/day# (n = 319) | <14.8 mg/day (n = 2,639) | P value* | |
| Dietary iron intake ## (mg/day) (m, sd ** ) | 16.9 (1.9 ) | 10.1 (2.5) | – |
| Dietary vitamin C intake ## (mg/day) (m, sd) | 119.3 (35.6) | 81.8 (32.1) | <0.001 |
| Age of mother (yrs) (m, sd) | 30.0 (4.2) | 29.5 (4.2) | 0.02 |
| Pre-pregnancy BMI (kg/m2) (m, sd) | 21.7 (2.5) | 22.9 (3.6) | <0.001 |
| Total energy intake (kj) (m, sd) | 10,100 (1,921) | 7,167 (1,645) | <0.001 |
| Smoking in pregnancy (%, 95% CI *** ) | 10.7 (7.5, 14.6) | 15.0 (14.6, 14.4) | 0.001 |
| Caucasian (%, 95% CI) | 98.1 (96.0, 99.3) | 99.0 (98.4, 99.3) | 0.2 |
| University degree (%, 95% CI) | 27.0 (22.2, 32.2) | 17.6 (16.2, 19.1) | <0.001 |
| Vegetarian (%, 95% CI) | 11.9 (8.3, 16.6) | 5.5 (4.6, 6.4) | <0.001 |
| Primigravida (%, 95% CI) | 48.0 (42.4, 53.6) | 51.0 (47.0, 50.9) | 0.8 |
| Early pregnancy maternal anemia (<11 g/dL) (%, 95% CI) | 6.6 (4.1, 9.9) | 4.1 (3.4, 4.9) | 0.04 |
| Report taking iron supplements Before 32 wks gestation (%, 95% CI) | 48.3 (42.7, 53.9) | 44.5 (42.6, 46.4) | 0.2 |
| Cord ferritin (µg/L) (m,sd) | 151.9 (104.8) (n = −83) | 165.4 (123.6) (n = 712) | 0.3 |
| Child systolic blood pressure (mmHg) (m, sd) | 103.9 (8.7) | 103.6 (8.8) | 0.5 |
| Child diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) (m, sd) | 60.3 (7.3) | 59.5 (7.8) | 0.08 |
| Child pulse wave velocity (m/s) (m, sd) | 7.7 (1.3) | 7.5 (1.2) | 0.1 |
| Child flow mediated dilatation (%) (m, sd) | 8.3 (3.5) | 8.0 (3.4) | 0.1 |
| Child body mass index (kg/m2) (m, sd) | 17.9 (2.7) | 18.1 (3.0) | 0.2 |
| Child gender (male) (%, 95% CI) | 55.2 (49.5, 60.7) | 50.3 (48.3, 52.2) | 0.1 |
| Birthweight (g) (m, sd) | 3,439 (486) | 3,450 (500) | 0.7 |
| Gestational age (wks) (m, sd) | 39.5 (1.6) | 39.6 (1.6) | 0.3 |
# Reference nutrient intake (RNI) for iron for women aged 19–50 years in the UK.
## Food frequency questionnaire at 32 weeks gestation.
P-value using two-sample t-test for continuous variables, chi-squared test for categorical variables.
Mean, standard deviation.
95% confidence intervals.