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Table 1 Demographics and baseline characteristics of women with and without geophagia at any time during pregnancy

From: Geophagia in pregnancy and its association with nutritional status - A prospective cohort study in rural north-eastern Tanzania

Characteristic1

Overall2

n = 530

No GiP2

n = 387

GiP2

n = 143

p-value3

Age (years)

27.8 [27.2, 28.3]

28.0 [27.3, 28.6]

27.3 [26.2, 28.4]

0.272

Gestational age at enrolment (weeks)

10.0 [9.6, 10.3]

9.5 [9.1, 9.9]

11.1 [10.3, 11.9]

6.51e-4

Season at enrolment

   

0.662

Dry (Dec-Mar)

248 (46.8%)

179 (46.3%)

69 (48.3%)

 

Long rains (Apr-May)

52 (9.8%)

36 (9.3%)

16 (11.2%)

 

Harvest (Jun-Sep)

146 (27.5%)

112 (28.9%)

34 (23.8%)

 

Short rains (Oct-Nov)

84 (15.8%)

60 (15.5%)

24 (16.8%)

 

Weight (kg)

57.6 [56.6, 58.7]

57.8 [56.6, 59.0]

57.2 [55.1, 59.4]

0.661

BMI (kg/m2)

23.8 [23.4, 24.2]

23.8 [23.4, 24.3]

23.8 [23.0, 24.5]

0.901

MUAC (cm)

28.3 [28.0, 28.7]

28.4 [28.0, 28.8]

28.2 [27.5, 28.8]

0.509

Alcohol intake

   

0.863

Yes

12 (2.3%)

8 (2.1%)

4 (2.8%)

 

No

518 (97.7%)

379 (97.9%)

139 (97.2%)

 

Parity

   

0.111

Nulliparous

67 (12.6%)

45 (11.6%)

22 (15.4%)

 

Primiparous

114 (21.5%)

77 (19.9%)

37 (25.9%)

 

Multiparous

349 (65.8%)

265 (68.5%)

84 (58.7%)

 

History of miscarriage

   

0.304

Yes

109 (20.6%)

75 (19.4%)

34 (23.9%)

 

No

420 (79.4%)

312 (80.6%)

108 (76.1%)

 

History of stillbirth

   

0.507

Yes

34 (6.5%)

27 (7.0%)

7 (4.9%)

 

No

493 (93.5%)

358 (93.0%)

135 (95.1%)

 

Civil status

   

0.348

Married

453 (86.0%)

334 (87.0%)

119 (83.2%)

 

Partner, co-habiting

23 (4.4%)

13 (3.4%)

10 (7.0%)

 

Partner, non-cohabiting

47 (8.9%)

34 (8.9%)

13 (9.1%)

 

Single, divorced, widowed

4 (0.8%)

3 (0.8%)

1 (0.7%)

 

Ethnicity

   

0.788

Sambaa

194 (36.6%)

144 (37.2%)

50 (35.0%)

 

Zigua

172 (32.5%)

126 (32.6%)

46 (32.2%)

 

Pare

37 (7.0%)

28 (7.2%)

9 (6.3%)

 

Bondei

15 (2.8%)

9 (2.3%)

6 (4.2%)

 

Other

112 (21.1%)

80 (20.7%)

32 (22.4%)

 

Religion

   

0.447

Islamic

396 (75.1%)

284 (73.8%)

112 (78.9%)

 

Catholic

30 (5.7%)

24 (6.2%)

6 (4.2%)

 

Lutheran

26 (4.9%)

22 (5.7%)

4 (2.8%)

 

Anglican

50 (9.5%)

35 (9.1%)

15 (10.6%)

 

Other

25 (4.7%)

20 (5.2%)

5 (3.5%)

 

Education

   

0.619

None

49 (9.2%)

37 (9.6%)

12 (8.4%)

 

Partial primary

72 (13.6%)

48 (12.4%)

24 (16.8%)

 

Complete primary

353 (66.6%)

261 (67.4%)

92 (64.3%)

 

Secondary or more

56 (10.6%)

41 (10.6%)

15 (10.5%)

 

Occupation

   

0.357

Professional

9 (1.7%)

5 (1.3%)

4 (2.8%)

 

Business

59 (11.2%)

46 (11.9%)

13 (9.1%)

 

Service

17 (3.2%)

12 (3.1%)

5 (3.5%)

 

Farmer

357 (67.6%)

263 (68.3%)

94 (65.7%)

 

Housework

85 (16.1%)

59 (15.3%)

26 (18.2%)

 

Other

1 (0.2%)

0 (0.0%)

1 (0.7%)

 

Socioeconomic status4

   

0.380

Low

184 (35.2%)

129 (33.6%)

55 (39.6%)

 

Middle

168 (32.1%)

124 (32.3%)

44 (31.7%)

 

High

171 (32.7%)

131 (34.1%)

40 (28.8%)

 

Malaria infection

   

0.652

Positive

71 (13.5%)

54 (14.1%)

17 (12.1%)

 

Negative

454 (86.5%)

330 (85.9%)

124 (87.9%)

 

HIV status

   

0.925

Positive

17 (3.4%)

13 (3.6%)

4 (2.9%)

 

Negative

478 (96.6%)

346 (96.4%)

132 (97.1%)

 

Chronic disease5

   

0.520

Yes

76 (14.6%)

53 (13.9%)

23 (16.7%)

 

No

443 (85.4%)

328 (86.1%)

115 (83.3%)

 

Anemia

   

0.134

Yes

119 (22.5%)

80 (20.7%)

39 (27.3%)

 

No

411 (77.5%)

307 (79.3%)

104 (72.7%)

 

History of anemia6

   

1.000

Yes

6 (1.1%)

4 (1.0%)

2 (1.4%)

 

No

522 (98.9%)

381 (99.0%)

141 (98.6%)

 

Medication use7

   

1.000

Yes

37 (7.0%)

27 (7.0%)

10 (7.0%)

 

No

492 (93.0%)

360 (93.0%)

132 (93.0%)

 

Supplement use8

   

0.009

Yes

15 (2.8%)

6 (1.6%)

9 (6.3%)

 

No

515 (97.2%)

381 (98.4%)

134 (93.7%)

 
  1. Abbreviations: GiP, geophagia in pregnancy; MUAC, mid-upper arm circumference
  2. 1All characteristics were collected at study enrolment during the first antenatal care visit
  3. 2Mean [95% CI] or frequency (%)
  4. 3Welch two sample t-test for continuous variables; Pearson’s χ2-test for categorical variables. P-values < 0.05 are shown in bold
  5. 4Socio-economic status was determined using principal components analysis based on maternal education, occupation, source of domestic water, type of house ownership, roofing materials and type of toilet facility
  6. 5Chronic diseases self-reported at enrolment were gastric ulcers, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, chronic kidney disease, epilepsy, cardiomegaly, hypotension, and lymphatic filariasiz
  7. 6Self-reported anemia within 6 months prior to the enrolment
  8. 7Medications included antibiotics, antimalarials, antiretrovirals, antihypertensives, anti-asthmatics, painkillers (paracetamol, aspirin, diclofenac), omeprazole, phenobarbital
  9. 8Supplements taken within 2 months prior to enrolment were a combined iron and folic acid supplement or multivitamin syrup (Hemovit)
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International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

ISSN: 1479-5868

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