Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of study population according to castea
| Caste | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child characteristics | Other caste | Other backward class | Scheduled tribe | Scheduled caste | p-value |
| (N = 33,488) | (n = 10,185) | (n = 11,819) | (n = 5,015) | (n = 6,469) | |
| Age (months) | 32.7 (0.19) | 32.8 (0.14) | 32.7 (0.26) | 32.5 (0.19) | 0.107 |
| Male | 53 (52–55) | 54 (53–55) | 52 (50–54) | 52 (50–53) | 0.003 |
| Birth order | <0.001 | ||||
| <3 | 80 (79–82) | 73 (71–74) | 64 (62–67) | 71 (69–73) | |
| 3 to 6 | 15 (14–17) | 22 (21–23) | 29 (27–31) | 23 (21–24) | |
| >6 | 4.0 (3.3 - 5.0) | 5.6 (4.9 - 6.4) | 6.8 (5.4 - 8.1) | 6.1 (5.1 - 7.2) | |
| Anemia (Hb < 11 g/dL) | 64 (63–66) | 70 (69–71) | 77 (75–79) | 73 (71–74) | <0.001 |
| Maternal characteristics | |||||
| Age at first birth (years) | 20.0 (0.07) | 19.1 (0.05) | 18.7 (0.09) | 18.7 (0.07) | <0.001 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 20.4 (0.09) | 19.7 (0.05) | 19.5 (0.07) | 19.3 (0.09) | <0.001 |
| Married | 99 (98–100) | 99 (98–100) | 97 (96–98) | 98 (97–99) | 0.005 |
| Smoking (present) | 1.0 (0.4 - 1.6) | 1.7 (1.2 - 2.1) | 2.5 (1.4 - 3.7) | 2.5 (1.8 - 3.2) | <0.001 |
| Education | <0.001 | ||||
| No education | 32 (29–35) | 53 (51–54) | 69 (66–72) | 58 (56–60) | |
| Primary | 14 (12–15) | 14 (13–15) | 12 (11–14) | 14 (13–16) | |
| Secondary | 44 (42–47) | 29 (28–31) | 17 (15–20) | 25 (24–27) | |
| Occupation | <0.001 | ||||
| Non worker | 77 (76–79) | 59 (58–61) | 33 (30–36) | 56 (54–59) | |
| Manual worker | 17 (16–19) | 37 (35–38) | 64 (61–67) | 38 (36–41) | |
| Non manual worker | 5.3 (4.6 - 6.0) | 4.0 (3.5 - 4.5) | 3.3 (2.5 - 4.1) | 5.4 (4.5 - 6.2) | |
| Higher | 10 (9–11) | 3.7 (3.2 - 4.2) | 1.2 (0.7 - 1.7) | 2.2 (1.7 - 2.6) | |
| Other characteristics | |||||
| Residence (rural) | 66 (64–68) | 76 (75–78) | 91 (89–93) | 77 (75–80) | 0.035 |
| Father’s education | <0.001 | ||||
| No education | 20 (18–23) | 27 (26–29) | 47 (44–50) | 32 (30–35) | |
| Primary | 13 (12–14) | 15 (14–16) | 17 (15–19) | 17 (16–19) | |
| Secondary | 49 (47–52) | 49 (47–51) | 32 (29–35) | 44 (42–47) | |
| Higher | 17 (16–19) | 8.5 (7.7 - 9.2) | 4.2 (3.2 - 5.1) | 6.1 (5.2 - 6.9) | |
| Household wealth | |||||
| Poor | 30 (27–32) | 47 (45–49) | 77 (75–80) | 59 (56–61) | <0.001 |
| Middle | 19 (17–20) | 23 (21–24) | 12 (10–14) | 19 (17–20) | |
| Rich | 51 (49–54) | 30 (29–32) | 10 (8.3 - 12) | 23 (21–25) | |
| Religion | <0.001 | ||||
| Hindu | 65 (62–69) | 84 (82–86) | 87 (84–89) | 91 (90–93) | |
| Muslim | 30 (26–34) | 15 (13–17) | 1.3 (0.6 - 1.9) | 1.7 (1.0 - 2.4) | |
| Sikh | 1.2 (0.8 - 1.5) | 1.0 (0.6 - 1.3) | 7.6 (5.8 - 9.4) | 1.1 (0.7 - 1.6) | |
| Christian | 2.8 (2.3 - 3.3) | 0.4 (0.2 - 0.6) | 0.0 | 2.1 (1.5 - 2.7) | |
| Other | 0.7 (0.4 - 1.0) | 0.2 (0.1 - 0.3) | 4.5 (3.0 - 6.0) | 3.7 (2.6 - 4.7) | |
aContinuous variables are presented as mean (standard errors) and categorical variables as percentages