Table 1.

Distributions of early-life factors according to sex and study site.

Characteristics	Total (N = 5,575)	Rural Ghana (n = 1,004)	Urban Ghana (n = 1,440)	Europe (n = 3,131)
Male (n)	2,118	397	409	1,312
Age (years)	46.8 ± 11.1	46.3 ± 12.9	46.6 ± 11.9	47.1 ± 10.3
Father’s education
Never or elementary	58.5%	82.3%	63.4%	49.8%
Low	13.3%	10.2%	22.4%	11.4%
Intermediate	16.5%	4.8%	9.2%	22.3%
Higher vocational	11.7%	2.7%	4.9%	16.5%
Mother’s education
Never or elementary	74.7%	89.3%	81.9%	68.1%
Low	9.9%	6.9%	13.4%	9.8%
Intermediate	7.3%	1.8%	2.9%	10.4%
Higher vocational	8.0%	2.0%	1.9%	11.8%
Waist circumference (cm)	88.1 ± 12.0	76.7 ± 8.1	84.7 ± 10.5	92.5 ± 10.8
Height (cm)	170.8 ± 6.8	168.7 ± 7.3	169.6 ± 6.9	171.8 ± 6.4
Leg length (cm)	86.0 ± 4.4	85.3 ± 4.6	85.8 ± 4.5	86.3 ± 4.4
Quintile 1 of leg length (<82.1 cm)	20.2%	26.4%	23.2%	17.3%
Leg length-to-height ratio	0.50 ± 0.01	0.51 ± 0.01	0.51 ± 0.01	0.50 ± 0.01
Quintile 1 of leg length-to-height ratio (<0.49)	19.9%	13.1%	16.3%	23.1%
Female (n)	3,457	607	1,031	1,819
Age (years)	45.8 ± 10.6	46.6 ± 12.4	44.7 ± 11.2	46.2 ± 9.6
Father’s education
Never or elementary	57.1%	83.7%	64.9%	43.8%
Low	15.5%	10.2%	22.5%	13.2%
Intermediate	16.3%	3.5%	8.5%	25.0%
Higher vocational	11.2%	2.6%	4.2%	18.0%
Mother’s education
Never or elementary	76.5%	91.3%	84.6%	67.0%
Low	10.3%	6.4%	11.5%	10.8%
Intermediate	6.6%	1.2%	2.7%	10.7%
Higher vocational	6.6%	1.2%	1.1%	11.5%
Waist circumference (cm)	92.3 ± 12.7	83.7 ± 11.3	91.2 ± 11.9	95.9 ± 12.1
Height (cm)	159.9 ± 6.2	157.8 ± 6.4	158.7 ± 5.9	161.2 ± 6.0
Leg length (cm)	80.0 ± 4.1	79.7 ± 4.1	80.1 ± 4.1	80.1 ± 4.1
Quintile 1 of leg length (<76.4 cm)	20.1%	21.9%	18.6%	20.3%
Leg length: height	0.50 ± 0.01	0.50 ± 0.01	0.50 ± 0.01	0.50 ± 0.01
Quintile 1 of leg length-to-height ratio (<0.48)	20.0%	9.3%	10.1%	29.2%

Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation and as percentage.