Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of all the ALSPAC mother-child cohort, the ARIES subset at birth, the ARIES study population by maternal educational level and the ENVIRONAGE cohort at birth
| ALSPAC | ARIES | Study population (ARIES) by maternal education | ENVIRONAGE | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 15 445 | n = 914 |
n = 860 |
n = 180 | |||
| Low (O level/ vocational/CSE) | Medium (A level) | High (degree) | ||||
| n = 431 | n = 249 | n = 180 | ||||
| Child characteristics | ||||||
| Sex, female | 7219 (48.5) | 469 (51.3) | 228 (52.9) | 119 (47.8) | 88 (48.9) | 85 (47.2) |
| Birthweight, gramsa | 3381 ± 580.9 | 3485 ± 486.8 | 3479 ± 494.5 | 3474 ± 470.9 | 3505 ± 470.1 | 3401 ± 471.9 |
| Gestational age, weeksa | 38.36 ± 5.5 | 39.56 ± 1.5 | 39.5 ± 1.6 | 39.42 ± 1.5 | 39.80 ± 1.4 | 39.11 ± 1.6 |
| Parent characteristics | ||||||
| Maternal age, yearsa,b | 28.35 ± 4.8 | 29.59 ± 4.49 | 28.37 ± 4.4 | 30.39 ± 4.1 | 31.67 ± 3.6 | 29.37 ± 4.2 |
| Maternal BMI, kg/m2b | 22.93 ± 3.9 | 22.82 ± 3.7 | 23.35 ± 4.2 | 22.52 ± 3.2 | 21.85 ± 2.6 | 23.97 ± 4.3 |
| Maternal smoking during pregnancy, yesa,b | 1854 (24.7) | 121 (13.2) | 79 (18.3) | 24 (9.6) | 11 (6.1) | 25 (13.9) |
| Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy, yes | 9382 (60.7) | 708 (77.5) | 337 (78.2) | 196 (78.7) | 148 (82.2) | 19 (10.5)c |
| Parity, multiparous | 7252 (55.2) | 465 (50.9) | 228 (52.9) | 139 (55.8) | 89 (49.4) | 81 (45) |
| Maternal education | ||||||
| Low (O level/vocational/CSE)a | 8084 (52.3) | 450 (49.2) | 431 (50.1) | – | – | 91 (50.6) |
| Medium (A level) | 2802 (18.1) | 260 (28.4) | – | 249 (28.9) | – | 62 (34.4) |
| High (degree) | 1610 (10.4) | 184 (20.1) | – | – | 180 (20.9) | 27 (15) |
| Paternal education, | ||||||
| Low (O level/vocational/CSE)b | 6709 (43.4) | 393 (43) | 264 (61.2) | 86 (34.5) | 24 (13.3) | 62 (34.4) |
| Medium (A level) | 3123 (20.2) | 262 (28.7) | 132 (30.6) | 98 (39.4) | 25 (13.9) | 72 (40) |
| High (degree) | 2182 (14.1) | 227 (24.8) | 130 (30.2) | 63 (25.3) | 27 (15) | 30 (16.7) |
| Maternal occupation, manuala,b | 2870 (18.6) | 143 (15.6) | 102 (23.7) | 31 (12.4) | 6 (3.3) | – |
| Paternal occupation, manualb | 4987 (32.3) | 305 (33.4) | 214 (49.7) | 67 (26.9) | 11 (6.1) | – |
Counts (percentages) and means ± standard deviations are reported for categorical and continuous variables, respectively.
a
Significant P-value for difference in proportion (chi square test) and mean (t test) of ALSPAC versus ARIES population.
b
Significant P-value between maternal education categories of the study population using chi-square (for categorical dependent variables) and ANOVA test (for continuous dependent variables).
c
In ENVIRONAGE occasional alcohol use was reported.