Table 1.
Background characteristics of the study participants according to Ethiopian famine exposure status, North Wollo Zone, Northeast Ethiopia, 2019 (n=1047)
| Variables | Early life exposed* n=697 |
Prenatal exposed group n=348 |
Postnatal exposed n=349 | Non-exposed group n=350 |
P value |
| Age (years), mean±SD | 36.3±1.5 | 35.05±0.8 | 37.62±0.5 | 31.20±0.6 | <0.001† |
| Sex, n (%) | |||||
| Female | 415 (59.5%) | 205 (58.9%) | 210 (60.2%) | 169 (48.3%) | 0.002† |
| Male | 282 (40.5%) | 143 (41.1%) | 139 (39.8%) | 181 (51.7%) | |
| Residence, n (%) | |||||
| Urban | 139 (19.9%) | 70 (20.1%) | 69 (19.7%) | 53 (15.2%) | 0.165 |
| Rural | 558 (80.1%) | 278 (79.8%) | 280 (80.3%) | 297 (84.8%) | |
| Educational status | |||||
| Cannot read and write | 303 (43.5%) | 138 (39.6%) | 165 (47.3%) | 87 (24.8%) | <0.001† |
| Primary school | 170 (24.4%) | 86 (24.7%) | 84 (24.1%) | 66 (18.8%) | |
| Secondary school | 129 (18.5%) | 72 (20.7%) | 57 (16.3%) | 116 (33.2%) | |
| Secondary and above | 95 (13.6%) | 52 (14.9%) | 43 (12.3%) | 81 (23.2%) | |
| Household wealth index, n (%) | |||||
| Low | 184 (26.4%) | 76 (21.8%) | 108 (30.9%) | 70 (20.0%) | 0.011† |
| Medium | 103 (14.7%) | 55 (15.8%) | 48 (13.7%) | 58 (16.6%) | |
| High | 410 (58.8%) | 217 (62.4%) | 193 (55.4%) | 222 (63.4%) | |
| Marital status, n (%) | |||||
| Single | 113 (15.5%) | 54 (15.5%) | 59 (16.9%) | 102 (29.2%) | <0.001† |
| Married | 468 (67.2%) | 230 (66.1%) | 238 (68.2% | 220 (62.8%) | |
| Divorced/widowed | 116 (17.4%) | 64 (18.4%) | 52 (14.8%) | 28 (8.0%) | |
| Current drinker, n (%) | |||||
| Yes | 384 (55.1%) | 220 (63.2%) | 164 (46.9%) | 237 (67.7%) | 0.001† |
| No | 313 (44.9%) | 128 (36.8%) | 185 (53.1%) | 113 (32.3%) | |
| Dietary pattern, n (%) | |||||
| Healthy | 202 (28.9%) | 113 (32.4%) | 89 (25.5%) | 125 (35.7%) | 0.012† |
| Unhealthy | 495 (71.1%) | 235 (67.5%) | 260 (74.5%) | 225 (64.2%) | |
| Physical activity level, n (%) | |||||
| Low | 55 (7.8%) | 4 (1.2%) | 51 (14.6%) | 6 (1.7%) | <0.001† |
| Moderate | 117 (16.8%) | 40 (11.5%) | 77 (22.1%) | 28 (8.0%) | |
| High | 525 (75.4%) | 304 (87.3%) | 221 (63.3%) | 316 (90.3%) | |
| BMI (kg/m2), mean±SD | 23.3±4.9 | 23.06±5.21 | 23.36±4.60 | 23.3±4.83 | 0.025† |
| History of diabetes mellitus | |||||
| Yes | 115 (16.5%) | 15 (4.3%) | 100 (28.6%) | 14 (4.0%) | <0.001† |
| No | 582 (83.5%) | 333 (95.6%) | 249 (71.4%) | 336 (96.0%) | |
*Prenatal and postnatal exposed, p value—represents Independent samples t-tests for continuous variables or χ2 test for categorical variables.
† Statistical significance.
BMI, body mass index.