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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study participants MDHS, 2015–16 (n = 4047)

From: Association of low birth weight with undernutrition in preschool-aged children in Malawi

Characteristic

Overall sample

nk (%)l

Stunted

%

Underweight

%

Wasted

%

Outcome variablesa

 Stunted

  No

2521 (61.03)

  Yes

1526 (38.97)

 Underweight

  No

3551 (88.69)

  yes

496 (11.31)

 Wasted

  No

3933 (97.70)

  Yes

114 (2.30)

Main independent variable

 Birth weight

  Low birthweightb

399 (10.11)

50.63*

23.81*

5.26*

  Normal and above

3648 (89.89)

36.29

10.99

2.55

Child characteristics

 Sex of the child

  Male

2005 (48.78)

39.30*

12.87

3.09

  Female

2042 (51.22)

36.14

11.66

2.55

 Age

  6–11

459 (11.70)

22.88*

9.59*

4.58*

  12–23

926 (21.98)

38.88

11.45

3.46

  24–35

921 (22.61)

41.91

12.49

2.71

  36–47

905 (22.98)

43.54

14.92

2.10

  48–59

836 (20.73)

33.61

11.48

2.03

 Multiple births

  Single births

3927 (97.09)

37.08*

12.12

2.85

  Twins

120 (2.91)

58.33

16.67

1.67

 Preceding birth interval (months)

   < 24

1352 (32.50)

40.24*

13.83

3.55

  24–47

1624 (41.30)

37.93

11.88

2.46

  48+

1071 (26.20)

34.17

10.83

2.43

Child health related factors

 Recent diarrheac

  No

3178 (78.09)

37.44

11.80

2.39*

  Yes

869 (21.91)

38.67

13.92

4.37

 Recent feverd

  No

2783 (68.01)

37.33

11.93

2.34*

  Yes

1264 (31.99)

38.53

12.97

3.88

Maternal/household Characteristics

 Maternal age (years)

  15–19

239 (6.13)

37.24*

10.88

4.60

  20–24

1225 (29.36)

41.80

14.37

3.27

  25–29

1008 (24.62)

35.12

10.42

2.78

  30–34

792 (20.27)

34.22

11.74

2.15

  35–49

783 (19.63)

38.31

12.26

2.30

 Maternal education levels

  No education

542 (14.16)

46.13*

14.21*

2.03

  Primary

2685 (67.47)

38.40

12.63

2.83

  Secondary and above

820 (18.37)

29.88

9.76

3.29

 Maternal body mass indexe

  Underweight

229 (5.62)

43.67*

20.09*

5.68*

  Optimal weight

3014 (75.00)

39.38

12.67

2.92

  Overweight/obesity

804 (19.32)

29.73

8.46

1.62

 Wealth index

  Poorest

955 (26.09)

44.61*

15.39*

3.35

  Poorer

958 (24.69)

41.96

13.78

2.51

  Middle

800 (19.34)

38.50

11.50

2.63

  Richer

729 (17.55)

31.96

10.01

2.47

  Richest

605 (12.34)

25.95

8.60

3.14

 No of under-5-year children

   ≤ 1

1938 (47.51)

35.04*

11.56*

2.53*

  2–3

1776 (44.29)

39.36

11.88

2.87

   ≥ 4

333 (8.20)

44.44

18.32

4.20

 Amount of media exposuref

  0

2621 (64.76)

40.02*

13.47*

3.13

  1

1112 (27.48)

35.25

10.97

1.98

  2

272 (6.72)

27.57

6.62

2.94

  3

42 (1.04)

23.81

7.14

4.76

Household environmental factors

 Source of drinking water

  Unimproved

670 (15.88)

41.34*

14.18

3.13

  Improvedg

3377 (84.12)

36.99

11.87

2.75

Sanitation facility

  Unimproved

806 (20.80)

39.70

11.91

2.48

  Improvedh

3241 (79.20)

37.21

12.34

2.90

Health Service utilization

 Place of delivery

  Home and other

335 (8.79)

40.30

17.01*

3.28

  Hospital/institutioni

3712 (91.21)

37.47

11.83

2.77

 Perceived distance to health facility

  Perceived problem

1773 (40.28)

37.79

12.35

2.88

  Not perceived problem

2274 (59.72)

37.64

12.18

2.77

Community characteristics

 Place of residence

  Urban

481 (7.91)

27.86*

10.40

4.37*

  Rural

3566 (92.09)

39.04

12.51

2.61

 Geographical region

  Northern

710 (10.81)

31.69*

10.00

2.11

  Central

1458 (43.18)

40.26

11.93

2.40

  Southern

1879 (46.01)

38.00

13.36

3.41

  1. aEach index is expressed in SD from the median of the WHO Child Growth Standards; SD standard deviation, WHO World Health Organization; bProportion of births with a reported birth weight < 2500 g regardless of gestational age; cpassage of three or more loose or liquid stools during a 24-h period; dself-reports by mothers about symptoms that had occurred within 2 weeks prior to the survey; eweight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2); ffrequency of reading newspaper or magazine, frequency of listening to radio, frequency of watching television.; gimproved drinking water (piped water into dwelling, piped water to yard/plot, public tap or standpipe, tubewell or borehole, protected dug well, protected spring and rainwater); himproved sanitation (flush toilet, piped sewer system, septic tank, flush/pour flush to pit latrine, ventilated improved pit latrine, pit latrine with slab, and composting toilet); igovernment hospital, government health center, government health post/outreach, other public sector, private hospital/clinic, CHAM/MISSION hospital, CHAM/MISSION health Center, BLM, other private medical sector, * < 0.05; kUnweighted frequency; lWeighted percentage