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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study population according to castea

From: Caste-based social inequalities and childhood anemia in India: results from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2005–2006

 

Caste

 

Child characteristics

Other caste

Other backward class

Scheduled tribe

Scheduled caste

p-value

(N = 33,488)

(n = 10,185)

(n = 11,819)

(n = 5,015)

(n = 6,469)

 

Age (months)

32.7 (0.19)

32.8 (0.14)

32.7 (0.26)

32.5 (0.19)

0.107

Male

53 (52–55)

54 (53–55)

52 (50–54)

52 (50–53)

0.003

Birth order

    

<0.001

<3

80 (79–82)

73 (71–74)

64 (62–67)

71 (69–73)

 

3 to 6

15 (14–17)

22 (21–23)

29 (27–31)

23 (21–24)

 

>6

4.0 (3.3 - 5.0)

5.6 (4.9 - 6.4)

6.8 (5.4 - 8.1)

6.1 (5.1 - 7.2)

 

Anemia (Hb < 11 g/dL)

64 (63–66)

70 (69–71)

77 (75–79)

73 (71–74)

<0.001

Maternal characteristics

     

Age at first birth (years)

20.0 (0.07)

19.1 (0.05)

18.7 (0.09)

18.7 (0.07)

<0.001

Body mass index (kg/m2)

20.4 (0.09)

19.7 (0.05)

19.5 (0.07)

19.3 (0.09)

<0.001

Married

99 (98–100)

99 (98–100)

97 (96–98)

98 (97–99)

0.005

Smoking (present)

1.0 (0.4 - 1.6)

1.7 (1.2 - 2.1)

2.5 (1.4 - 3.7)

2.5 (1.8 - 3.2)

<0.001

Education

    

<0.001

No education

32 (29–35)

53 (51–54)

69 (66–72)

58 (56–60)

 

Primary

14 (12–15)

14 (13–15)

12 (11–14)

14 (13–16)

 

Secondary

44 (42–47)

29 (28–31)

17 (15–20)

25 (24–27)

 

Occupation

    

<0.001

Non worker

77 (76–79)

59 (58–61)

33 (30–36)

56 (54–59)

 

Manual worker

17 (16–19)

37 (35–38)

64 (61–67)

38 (36–41)

 

Non manual worker

5.3 (4.6 - 6.0)

4.0 (3.5 - 4.5)

3.3 (2.5 - 4.1)

5.4 (4.5 - 6.2)

 

Higher

10 (9–11)

3.7 (3.2 - 4.2)

1.2 (0.7 - 1.7)

2.2 (1.7 - 2.6)

 

Other characteristics

     

Residence (rural)

66 (64–68)

76 (75–78)

91 (89–93)

77 (75–80)

0.035

Father’s education

    

<0.001

No education

20 (18–23)

27 (26–29)

47 (44–50)

32 (30–35)

 

Primary

13 (12–14)

15 (14–16)

17 (15–19)

17 (16–19)

 

Secondary

49 (47–52)

49 (47–51)

32 (29–35)

44 (42–47)

 

Higher

17 (16–19)

8.5 (7.7 - 9.2)

4.2 (3.2 - 5.1)

6.1 (5.2 - 6.9)

 

Household wealth

     

Poor

30 (27–32)

47 (45–49)

77 (75–80)

59 (56–61)

<0.001

Middle

19 (17–20)

23 (21–24)

12 (10–14)

19 (17–20)

 

Rich

51 (49–54)

30 (29–32)

10 (8.3 - 12)

23 (21–25)

 

Religion

    

<0.001

Hindu

65 (62–69)

84 (82–86)

87 (84–89)

91 (90–93)

 

Muslim

30 (26–34)

15 (13–17)

1.3 (0.6 - 1.9)

1.7 (1.0 - 2.4)

 

Sikh

1.2 (0.8 - 1.5)

1.0 (0.6 - 1.3)

7.6 (5.8 - 9.4)

1.1 (0.7 - 1.6)

 

Christian

2.8 (2.3 - 3.3)

0.4 (0.2 - 0.6)

0.0

2.1 (1.5 - 2.7)

 

Other

0.7 (0.4 - 1.0)

0.2 (0.1 - 0.3)

4.5 (3.0 - 6.0)

3.7 (2.6 - 4.7)

 
  1. aContinuous variables are presented as mean (standard errors) and categorical variables as percentages