TABLE 1. Baseline Characteristics of the 577 Children in the Present Study and the Children Who Refused to Take the PPD Injection, As Well As Children Who Were Included in the Cytokine Analysis, and the Rest of the Children Who Were Enrolled in the MINIMat Follow-up Study from December 2007 through February 2009.
| Characteristicsa | Studied children (n = 577) | Children refused to take PPD injection (n = 63) | Children included in cytokine analysis (n = 181) | Not studied children (n = 663) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 4.58 ± 0.11* | 4.68 ± 0.15* | 4.54± 0.08 | 4.56 ± 0.12 |
| Boys, n (%) | 298 (52) | 29 (45) | 93 (51) | 341 (51) |
| Height (cm) | 100.0 ± 4.0 | 100.6 ± 3.7 | 99.9± 4.2 | 99.59 ± 4.3 |
| HAZ | −1.55 ± 0.86 | −1.55 ± 0.75 | −1.52 ± 0.91 | −1.61 ± 0.93 |
| Stunted, n (%)b | 165 (28.6)* | 18 (28.1) | 48 (27) | 225 (34.5)* |
| Weight (kg) | 13.9 ± 1.6 | 14.0 ± 1.4 | 13.9 ± 1.6 | 13.8 ± 1.6 |
| WAZ | −1.76 ± 0.84 | −1.73 ± 0.73 | −1.73 ± 0.84 | −1.79 ± 0.86 |
| Underweight, n (%)b | 226 (39.2) | 23 (36.0) | 67 (37) | 270 (40.8) |
| Diarrhea, n (%)c | 87 (15.1) | 7 (11.0) | 25(14) | 82 (12.4) |
| Acute respiratory infection, n (%)c | 248 (43.0) | 24 (37.0) | 70 (39) | 286 (43.1) |
| Children U-As (μg/l)d | 57 (21, 393) | 59 (20, 328) | 71 (21, 393) | |
| Maternal U-As (μg/l)d | 77 (21, 692) | 111 (20, 580) | 69 (18, 557) |
Note: MINIMat, Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions in Matlab; PPD, purified protein derivative; U-As, sum concentration of urinary arsenic metabolites; HAZ, height-for-age z-score; WAZ, weight-for-age z-score.
aValues are shown as mean ± SD, median (5–95 percentiles), or n (%).
bDefined as children with HAZ or WAZ <-2 SD from the median value of height or weight for age of reference population.
cInformation based on 2 weeks recall.
dAdjusted to average specific gravity of 1.012 g/ml.
*Indicates significant difference between groups (p values were calculated on the basis of Mann-Whitney or Chi-Square tests as appropriate).