Table 4.
Anemia and nutritional status of Syrian refugee mothers and their children by the reproductive status.
| Variables a | PM n = 77 |
LM n = 204 |
NPNLM n = 152 |
Total b
n = 433 |
p-Value c |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anemia among mothers | |||||
| Hemoglobin concentration (g/dL) | 11.8 ± 1.3 | 12.9 ± 1.1 | 12.7 ± 1.3 | 12.6 ± 1.3 | <0.001 |
| Total anemia d | 0.199 | ||||
| Not anemic | 63 (81.8) | 162 (80.6) | 111 (73.5) | 336 (78.3) | |
| Anemic | 14 (18.2) | 39 (19.4) | 40 (26.5) | 93 (21.7) | |
| Classification of anemia e | 0.043 | ||||
| Not anemic | 63 (81.8) | 162 (80.6) | 111 (73.5) | 336 (78.3) | |
| Mild anemia | 6 (7.8) | 32 (15.9) | 28 (18.5) | 66 (15.4) | |
| Moderate anemia | 8 (10.4) | 7 (3.5) | 12 (7.9) | 27 (6.3) | |
| Anemia among children | |||||
| Hemoglobin concentration (g/dL) | 11.7 ± 1.3 | 11.3 ± 1.2 | 11.6 ± 1.2 | 11.4 ± 1.3 | 0.008 |
| Total anemia (0–59 months) d | 0.060 | ||||
| Not anemic | 60 (77.9) | 130 (64.4) | 109 (72.2) | 299 (69.5) | |
| Anemic | 17 (22.1) | 72 (35.6) | 42 (27.8) | 131 (30.5) | |
| Classification of anemia (6–59 months; n = 318) e | 0.001 | ||||
| Not anemic | 57 (78.1) | 52 (50.0) | 101 (71.6) | 210 (66.0) | |
| Mild anemia | 10 (13.7) | 39 (37.5) | 28 (19.9) | 77 (24.2) | |
| Moderate anemia | 6 (8.2) | 13 (12.5) | 12 (8.5) | 31 (9.8) | |
| Nutritional status of mothers | |||||
| MUAC (cm) | 28.6 ± 3.9 | 29.4 ± 4.1 | 29.9 ± 4.8 | 29.4 ± 4.4 | 0.148 |
| Classification of malnutrition using MUAC | 0.056 | ||||
| Undernourished (<23.0 cm) | 2 (2.6) | 8 (3.9) | 10 (6.6) | 20 (4.6) | |
| Normal weight (23.0–27.9 cm) | 32 (42.1) | 72 (35.5) | 42 (27.6) | 146 (33.9) | |
| Overweight (28.0–30.9 cm) | 25 (32.9) | 54 (26.6) | 37 (24.3) | 116 (26.9) | |
| Obese (≥31.0 cm) | 17 (22.4) | 69 (34.0) | 63 (41.4) | 149 (34.6) | |
| Nutritional status of non-pregnant mothers f | |||||
| BMI | 0.142 | ||||
| Underweight (<18.5 kg/m2) | - | 2 (1.0) | 7 (4.6) | 9 (2.5) | |
| Normal weight (18.5–24.9 kg/m2) | 76 (37.3) | 55 (36.2) | 131 (36.8) | ||
| Overweight (25.0–29.9 kg/m2) | 68 (33.3) | 43 (28.3) | 111 (31.2) | ||
| Obese (≥30.0 kg/m2) | 58 (28.4) | 47 (30.9) | 105 (29.5) | ||
| Waist circumference | 0.362 | ||||
| Normal (≤79 cm) | - | 67 (32.8) | 57 (37.5) | 124 (34.8) | |
| At-risk (>80 cm) | 137 (67.2) | 95 (62.5) | 232 (65.2) | ||
| Waist–hip ratio | 0.066 | ||||
| Normal (<0.85 cm) | - | 94 (46.1) | 85 (55.9) | 179 (50.3) | |
| Substantially increased risk (≥0.85 cm) | 110 (53.9) | 67 (44.1) | 177 (49.7) | ||
| Nutritional status of the children (0 –59 months) | |||||
| Length/Height-for-age Z-score (L/HAZ) | 0.458 | ||||
| No stunting (L/HAZ ≥ −2) | 69 (90.8) | 189 (92.6) | 135 (88.8) | 393 (91.0) | |
| Stunting (L/HAZ < −2) | 7 (9.2) | 15 (7.4) | 17 (11.2) | 39 (9.0) | |
| Weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ) | 0.327 | ||||
| No underweight (WAZ ≥ −2) | 73 (96.1) | 192 (94.1) | 148 (97.4) | 413 (95.6) | |
| Underweight (WAZ < −2) | 3 (3.9) | 12 (5.9) | 4 (2.6) | 19 (4.4) | |
| Weight-for-length/height Z-score (WHZ) | 0.050 | ||||
| No wasting (WHZ ≥ −2) | 69 (90.8) | 191 (94.1) | 149 (98.0) | 409 (94.9) | |
| Wasting (WHZ < −2) | 7 (9.2) | 12 (5.9) | 3 (2.0) | 22 (5.1) | |
| BMI-for-age Z-score (BAZ) | 0.086 | ||||
| Wasting (BAZ < −2) | 7 (9.2) | 13 (6.4) | 2 (1.3) | 22 (5.1) | |
| Normal weight (−2 ≤ BAZ ≤ +2) | 66 (86.8) | 181 (88.7) | 144 (94.7) | 391 (90.5) | |
| Overweight/obese (BAZ > +2) | 3 (3.9) | 10 (4.9) | 6 (3.9) | 19 (4.4) |
PM: Pregnant mothers; LM: Lactating mothers; NPNLM: Non-pregnant non-lactating mothers; a Categorical variables are expressed as n (%) and continuous variables are expressed as mean ± SD. b Lack of corresponding sum of frequencies with total sample size is due to missing data. c Significantly different at p-value < 0.05 (in bold); p-value was derived using one-way ANOVA test for continuous variables and chi-square analysis for categorical variables. d Total anemia was defined as hemoglobin (Hb) < 12.0 g/dL for LM and NPNLM, <11.0 g/dL for PM and children (6–59 months), and <10.5 g/dL for infants (0–5 months). e Anemia was classified as mild and moderate for LM and NPNLM (Hb 11.0–11.9 g/dL and 8.0–10.9 g/dL, respectively) and for PM and children aged 6 to 59 months (Hb 10.0–10.9 g/dL and 7.0–9.9 g/dL, respectively). f Non-pregnant mothers include lactating mothers and non-pregnant non-lactating mothers.