Table 2 Characteristics of the participants across the six dietary patterns identified by cluster analysis
| Â | Â | Dietary patterns | Pvalue* | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Varied | Milk | Cereals, eggs and Cantonese soups | Meats | Fruits, nuts and Cantonese desserts | Vegetables | Â | |
Characteristics | (n = 7352) | (n = 1742) | (n = 1090) | (n = 1078) | (n = 1125) | (n = 875) | (n = 1442) |  |
Age, years, mean ± SD | 29.1 ± 3.3 | 29.3 ± 3.3 | 29.0 ± 3.5 | 28.8 ± 3.3 | 29.0 ± 3.3 | 29.0 ± 3.2 | 29.3 ± 3.4 | 0.002 |
Education level, n (%) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
 High school or below | 624 (8.5) | 117 (6.7) | 105 (9.6) | 110 (10.2) | 83 (7.4) | 79 (9.0) | 130 (9.0) |  |
 Vocational/technical college | 1807 (24.6) | 338 (19.4) | 285 (26.1) | 309 (28.7) | 282 (25.1) | 213 (24.3) | 380 (26.4) |  |
 Undergraduate | 4031 (54.8) | 986 (56.6) | 591 (54.2) | 569 (52.8) | 642 (57.1) | 461 (52.7) | 782 (54.2) |  |
 Postgraduate | 890 (12.1) | 301 (17.3) | 109 (10.0) | 90 (8.3) | 118 (10.5) | 122 (13.9) | 150 (10.4) |  |
Monthly income, Yuan, n (%) |  |  |  |  |  | < 0.001 | ||
  ≤ 1500 | 692 (9.4) | 161 (9.2) | 107 (9.8) | 93 (8.6) | 101 (9.0) | 92 (10.5) | 138 (9.6) |  |
 1501–4500 | 2274 (30.9) | 430 (24.7) | 402 (36.9) | 387 (35.9) | 383 (34.0) | 216 (24.7) | 456 (31.6) |  |
 4501–9000 | 3062 (41.6) | 754 (43.3) | 410 (37.6) | 441 (40.9) | 453 (40.3) | 396 (45.3) | 608 (42.2) |  |
  ≥ 9001 | 1158 (15.8) | 353 (20.3) | 143 (13.1) | 140 (13.0) | 164 (14.6) | 150 (17.1) | 208 (14.4) |  |
 Refused to answer | 166 (2.3) | 44 (2.5) | 28 (2.6) | 17 (1.6) | 24 (2.1) | 21 (2.4) | 32 (2.2) |  |
Parity, n (%) |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
 Primiparous | 6430 (87.5) | 1501 (86.2) | 1002 (91.9) | 967 (89.7) | 956 (85.0) | 799 (91.3) | 1205 (83.6) |  |
 Multiparous | 922 (12.5) | 241 (13.8) | 88 (8.1) | 111 (10.3) | 169 (15.0) | 76 (8.7) | 237 (16.4) |  |
Passive smoking during pregnancy, n (%) | 2222 (30.2) | 472 (27.2) | 322 (29.5) | 364 (33.8) | 384 (34.1) | 252 (28.8) | 428 (29.7) | < 0.001 |
Supplementation with folic acid, n (%) | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | 0.110 | ||
 No | 603 (8.2) | 128 (7.3) | 91 (8.3) | 96 (8.9) | 103 (9.2) | 66 (7.5) | 119 (8.3) |  |
 Started during pregnancy | 3501 (47.6) | 811 (46.6) | 511 (46.9) | 535 (49.6) | 535 (47.6) | 392 (44.8) | 717 (49.7) |  |
 Started pre- conception | 3248 (44.2) | 803 (46.1) | 488 (44.8) | 447 (41.5) | 487 (43.3) | 417 (47.7) | 606 (42.0) |  |
Pre-pregnancy BMI, kg/m2, n (%) | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | 0.325 | ||
  < 18.5 | 1803 (24.5) | 414 (23.8) | 293 (26.9) | 274 (25.4) | 257 (22.8) | 212 (24.2) | 353 (24.5) |  |
 18.5–23.9 | 4608 (62.7) | 1114 (63.9) | 645 (59.2) | 682 (63.3) | 705 (62.7) | 563 (64.3) | 899 (62.3) |  |
  ≥ 24 | 847 (11.5) | 189 (10.8) | 137 (12.6) | 110 (10.2) | 145 (12.9) | 93 (10.6) | 173 (12.0) |  |
 Missing | 94 (1.3) | 25 (1.4) | 15 (1.4) | 12 (1.1) | 18 (1.6) | 7 (0.8) | 17 (1.2) |  |
Previous preterm delivery, n (%) | 53 (0.7) | 14 (0.8) | 9 (0.8) | 5 (0.5) | 8 (0.7) | 3 (0.3) | 14 (1.0) | 0.502 |