TABLE 1:
Maternal characteristics of sexually active 24-week post-partum women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (n = 522)
| Reported action to prevent pregnancy (n = 251) | Did not report any action to prevent pregnancy (n = 271) | |
|---|---|---|
| Age (median, IQR) | 27 (23, 32) | 28 (24, 32) |
| Less than 20 years old | 21 (8.4%) | 15 (5.5%) |
| 20–29 | 134 (53.4%) | 149 (55.0%) |
| 30+ | 96 (38.2%) | 107 (39.5%) |
| Education | ||
| Less than primary | 170 (67.7%) | 179 (66.1%) |
| Primary or Higher | 81 (32.3%) | 92 (33.9%) |
| SES* | ||
| Fifth | 48 (19.3%) | 62 (23.2%) |
| Fourth | 55 (22.1%) | 57 (21.3%) |
| Third | 47 (18.9%) | 50 (18.7%) |
| Second | 51 (20.5%) | 42 (15.7%) |
| First | 48 (19.3%) | 56 (21.0%) |
| Missing | 2 | 4 |
| Marital Status | ||
| Married / live-in boyfriend | 233 (93.2%) | 260 (95.9%) |
| Never married / separated / | 17 (6.8%) | 11 (4.1%) |
| divorced | ||
| Missing | 1 | 0 |
| Previous births | ||
| First birth | 53 (21.1%) | 43 (15.9%) |
| Second or subsequent birth | 198 (78.9%) | 228 (84.1%) |
| Wants additional children | ||
| Yes | 224 (89.2%) | 235 (87.0%) |
| No | 27 (10.8%) | 35 (13.0%) |
| Missing | 0 | 1 |
| Menstrual cycle returned | ||
| Yes | 101 (40.9%) | 182 (67.2%) |
| No | 146 (59.1%) | 89 (32.8%) |
| Missing | 4 | 0 |
IQR: interquartile range, SES: socio-economic status. Data comes from women enrolled in a breastfeeding promotional trial in the DRC between May 24 and August 25, 2012. To be eligible, women had to have a singleton birth at study enrollment and consented to be part of the trial. Twenty-three women did not have a response to this question.
SES is wealth index score divided into quintiles. To determine the SES measure, the average number of household members per room (indication of crowding), number of sleeping beds in household, household water source (communal or private pipe), cooking fuel type (electric stove or wood/charcoal), and ownership of durable assets (radio, refrigerator, mobile phone, television) were included in principal component analysis. The first component explained 20.2% of the variability in the data.