TABLE 5.
Effects of an integrated agriculture, nutrition, and health intervention on maternal RBP, hemoglobin, and nutritional status of 505 women participating in the Mama SASHA cohort study in Western Kenya1
| INT | CON | Adjusted difference (95% CI)2 | |
| RBP,3 μmol/L | |||
| Visit 1 (enrollment) | 1.52 ± 0.11 | 1.55 ± 0.11 | −0.03 (−0.12, 0.06) |
| Visit 2 (late third trimester) | 1.29 ± 0.08 | 1.26 ± 0.09 | 0.03 (−0.04, 0.10) |
| Visit 4 (9 mo postpartum) | 1.53 ± 0.16 | 1.45 ± 0.17 | 0.09 (−0.03, 0.21) |
| Difference in difference | 0.03 (−0.01, 0.07) | ||
| MUAC, cm | |||
| Visit 1 (enrollment) | 25.1 ± 0.9 | 26.6 ± 0.9 | −1.5 (−2.2, −0.7)‡ |
| Visit 2 (late third trimester) | 26.1 ± 0.5 | 26.6 ± 0.6 | −0.4 (−0.9, 0.0) |
| Visit 3 (4 mo postpartum) | 25.6 ± 0.8 | 25.7 ± 0.9 | −0.04 (−0.8, 0.7) |
| Visit 4 (9 mo postpartum) | 25.7 ± 0.9 | 25.2 ± 1.0 | 0.5 (−0.3, 1.2) |
| Difference in difference | 0.0 (−0.1, 0.4) | ||
| Hemoglobin,4 g/dL | |||
| Visit 1 (enrollment) | 11.9 ± 0.5 | 11.6 ± 0.5 | 0.3 (−0.1, 0.7) |
| Visit 2 (late third trimester) | 11.7 ± 0.4 | 11.5 ± 0.4 | 0.2 (−0.2, 0.5) |
| Visit 3 (4 mo postpartum) | 13.2 ± 0.5 | 13.1 ± 0.5 | 0.1 (−0.2, 0.5) |
| Visit 4 (9 mo postpartum) | 12.5 ± 0.5 | 12.3 ± 0.5 | 0.2 (−0.2, 0.7) |
| Difference in difference | 0.02 (−0.1, 0.2) | ||
| RBP <1.17 μmol/L, n (%) | |||
| Visit 1 (enrollment) | 57 (22.9) | 58 (22.8) | 1.0 (0.6, 1.5) |
| Visit 2 (late third trimester) | 73 (41.5) | 83 (40.9) | 1.0 (0.7, 1.3) |
| Visit 4 (9 mo postpartum) | 26 (13.9) | 40 (21.1) | 0.6 (0.3, 0.9)* |
| Difference in difference | 0.9 (0.8, 1.1) | ||
| Anemia,5 n (%) | |||
| Visit 1 (enrollment) | 80 (32.0) | 79 (31.0) | 1.0 (0.7, 1.5) |
| Visit 2 (late third trimester) | 66 (37.1) | 99 (48.5) | 0.5 (0.4, 0.6)‡ |
| Visit 3 (4 mo postpartum) | 69 (36.1) | 88 (43.1) | 0.8 (0.6, 1.2) |
| Visit 4 (9 mo postpartum) | 52 (27.7) | 51 (26.8) | 0.7 (0.3, 1.3) |
| Difference in difference | 1.1 (0.9, 1.2) |
Values are cluster- and covariate-adjusted least-squares means ± SEs unless otherwise indicated. A total of 505 women (250 INT, 255 CON) were enrolled in early to midpregnancy and followed through 9 mo postpartum and had data available at enrollment; 383 (178 INT, 205 CON) women had data available at visit 2, 401 (196 INT, 205 CON) at visit 3, and 385 (193 INT, 192 CON) at visit 4. *P < 0.05, ‡P < 0.01. CON, control; INT, intervention; Mama SASHA, Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa; MUAC, midupper arm circumference; RBP, retinol-binding protein.
Estimates are differences and 95% CIs by visit from restricted maximum likelihood estimations by using mixed-effects models.
RBP was corrected for inflammation by using the correction factor method described by Thurnham and McCabe (22).
Hemoglobin was adjusted for altitude as described by WHO (8).
Anemia was defined as altitude-adjusted hemoglobin <110 g/L in pregnancy and 120 g/L in the postpartum period (8).