Table 2.
Demographic infant and maternal characteristics in the intervention (IC) and static cross-sectional control group (CG) at enrolment
(Mean values and standard deviations; percentages)
| Characteristics | IC (n 80) | CG (n 80) | P * | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | sd | Mean | sd | ||||
| Infant characteristics | |||||||
| Age at enrolment (months)† | 5·7 | 0·5 | 11·8 | 0·4 | |||
| Gestational age at birth (weeks) | 36·6 | 0·9 | 36·6 | 0·8 | 0·853‡ | ||
| Sex (% boys) | 46·3 | 52·5 | 0·429§ | ||||
| Birth weight (kg) | 2·9 | 0·5 | 2·8 | 0·5 | 0·425‡ | ||
| Delivery mode (% Caesarean section) | 65·0 | 61·3 | 0·623§ | ||||
| Exclusively breast-fed up to 6 months of age (%) | 77·5 | 93·8 | 0·003‖ | ||||
| Maternal characteristics | |||||||
| Main caregiver (% mother) | 100 | 100 | |||||
| Maternal age (years) | 27·3 | 4·3 | 26·4 | 3·8 | |||
| Parity (number) | 1·8 | 1·0 | 1·8 | 0·8 | |||
| Level of education (%) | |||||||
| Unschooled/primary or middle school certificate | 28·7 | 23·7 | |||||
| High school certificate/intermediate or post high school diploma | 42·5 | 43·8 | |||||
| Graduate/postgraduate/doctorate/PhD | 28·8 | 32·5 | |||||
| Employment status (% non-employment) | 93·8 | 98·8 | |||||
| Living setting (%) | |||||||
| Urban | 85·0 | 75·0 | |||||
| Sub-urban | 13·8 | 18·8 | |||||
| Rural | 1·2 | 6·2 | |||||
| Socio-economic status (%)¶ | |||||||
| Upper/upper middle | 16·2 | 15·0 | |||||
| Lower middle | 22·5 | 27·5 | |||||
| Upper lower/lower | 61·3 | 57·5 | |||||
*
P value between group comparison; only assessed for the characteristics that were used as matching criteria between infants in the IC and CG.
†
Infants in the IC were enrolled at approximately 6 months of age; infants in the CG at approximately 12 months of age.
‡
Independent t test for between-group comparison.
§
Pearson’s χ 2 test for between-group comparison.
‖
Fisher’s exact test for between-group comparison.
¶
Socio-economic status was based on Kuppuswamy’s scale(32).