Table 2.

Distribution of biological, socioeconomic and health characteristics of children under three years of age.^a Ceará, Northeastern Brazil, 1987 and 2007.

Year/Characteristic		1987 (N = 4,513) %	2007 (N = 1,533) %
Child age (in months)
	0-6	18.5	21.0
	7-12	15.6	16.6
	13-24	33.7	34.8
	25-36	32.2	27.6
Gender
	Male	50.2	57.4
	Female	49.8	42.6
Birth weight
	Very low (< 1,500 g)	0.7	2.1
	Low (< 2,500 g)	10.2	6.2
	Normal (≥ 2,500 g)	89.1	91.7
BCG vaccination (up to 36 months)
	Yes	52.2	88.3
	No	47.8	11.7
Pneumonia hospitalization (previous 6 months)
	No	96.7	96.6
	Yes	3.3	3.4
Diarrhea hospitalization (previous 12 months)
	No	95.7	98.2
	Yes	4.3	1.8
Mother knows how to read
	Yes	58.4	90.6
	No	41.6	9.4
Family income (monthly)
	< Minimum wage	47.5	37.9
	≥ Minimum wage	52.5	62,1
Toilet availability
	Yes	13,3	57.5
	No	86.7	42.5
Place of residence
	Capital	18.8	29.4
	Rural	81.2	70.6

^a All variables presented highly statistical significance (p < 0.001) as differences between 1987 and 2007 were compared (Chi-square test).