TABLE 1.

Characteristics of the mothers giving birth between 2006 and 2011 from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011 (n = 8588)¹

Factors	n (weighted)	Relative frequency, %	Mean ± SD	Small birth size,2 %
Food security			N/A
Food secure	5537	64.3		15.7
Food insecure	3069	35.7		20.3
Sex of child			N/A
Male	4416	51.2		15.3
Female	4214	48.8		19.5
Birth interval, mo			53.6 ± 30.2
<33	1504	17.4		16.8
≥33	7126	82.6		17.5
Mother's age at birth, y			23.0 ± 5.7
<20	2770	32.1		18.9
20–34	5482	63.5		16.5
>34	378	4.4		18.6
Mother's height, cm			150.9 ± 5.5
<145	13	13.0		18.7
≥145 to <150	29	29.5		18.0
≥150 to <155	33	33.1		17.4
≥155	24	24.5		15.7
Mother's BMI,3 kg/m2			20.8 ± 3.5
Thin	2332	27.0		19.8
Normal	5137	59.5		16.8
Overweight	1161	13.5		14.7
Mother's anemia status4			N/A
No anemia	1463	54.7		18.4
Mild anemia	1030	38.5		17.6
Moderate to severe anemia	182	6.8		20.0
Parity, n			2.5 ± 1.6
First birth	2454	28.4		18.0
Subsequent births	6176	71.6		17.1
Any pregnancy loss			N/A
No	7078	82.0		16.9
Yes	1552	18.0		19.6
ANC visits, n			2.4 ± 2.7
No visit	2579	35.5		20.2
<4 visits	2959	40.7		17.2
≥4 visits	1735	23.9		13.1
Mother's education			N/A
No education	1753	20.3		19.2
Primary	2659	30.8		17.4
Secondary	3622	42.0		17.4
Higher	596	6.9		11.4
Mother's participation in health			N/A
care decision
No	3396	40.0		19.2
Yes	5095	60.0		16.2
Mother's exposure to television			N/A
Not at all	3597	41.7		17.7
≤1 time/wk	5032	58.3		17.1
Father's education			N/A
No education	2577	29.9		18.9
Primary	2523	29.3		17.9
Secondary	2460	28.5		16.9
Higher	1064	12.3		13.5
Region			N/A
Barisal	482	5.6		13.7
Chittagong	1977	22.9		20.7
Dhaka	2685	31.1		16.4
Khulna	780.2	9.0		16.0
Rajshahi	1125	13.0		16.3
Rangpur	912.6	10.6		13.7
Sylhet	669.5	7.8		22.1
Place of residence			N/A
Urban	1915	22.2		15.0
Rural	6715	77.8		18.0
Cooking fuel			N/A
Clean fuel	912	11.8		13.5
Polluting fuel	6819	88.2		18.2
Household wealth index			N/A
Poorest	1727	20.0		19.4
Poorer	1727	20.0		18.9
Middle	1726	20.0		17.1
Richer	1727	20.0		17.0
Richest	1725	20.0		14.4

¹Missing values for anemia, birth month, birth interval, ANC, cooking fuel, BMI, height, participation in healthcare decision, nutrition score, husband's education, and exposure to TV were 5914, 3842, 3095, 1343, 886, 190, 186, 146, 21, 6, and 2, respectively. ANC, antenatal care; N/A, not applicable.

²Small birth size is defined as birth size “small” and “not small.”

³Thin, normal, and overweight are defined as BMI (in kg/m²) <18.5, 18.5–24.9 and ≥25.0, respectively.

⁴Mild anemia is defined as hemoglobin concentrations 10.0–11.9 g/dL (nonpregnant) and 10.0–10.9 g/dL (pregnant), and moderate to severe anemia is defined as hemoglobin concentrations ≤9.0 g/dL (pregnant and nonpregnant).