Household food (in)security and nutritional status of urban poor children aged 6 to 23 months in Kenya

BMC Public Health

Table 1 Background characteristics of the study sample at entry and levels of stunting (n = 6858)

Characteristic	Number		Percentage
Characteristic	Total	Stunted	Sample	Stunted
Overall	6858	3349	-	48.83
Child sex^**
Male	3462	1858	50.48	53.67
Female	3396	1491	49.52	43.90
Food security^**
Food secure	1930	823	28.14	42.64
Moderate	3432	1708	50.04	49.77
Food insecure	1496	818	21.81	54.68
Wealth index^**
Poorest	2778	1466	40.51	52.77
Middle	2125	970	30.99	45.65
Least poor	1955	913	28.51	46.70
Mother education^**
Incomplete primary/no education	1902	991	27.73	52.10
Completed primary	3251	1621	47.40	49.86
Secondary plus	1705	737	24.86	43.23
Birth weight^**
Below 2500	346	166	5.05	47.98
2500 - 2900	1007	548	14.68	54.42
= > 3000	3817	1795	55.66	47.03
No birth weight record	1688	840	24.61	49.76
Breast feeding
Yes	72	41	1.05	56.94
Introduced to foods	6786	3308	98.95	48.75
Parity^*
1	2097	962	30.58	45.88
2	2016	982	29.40	48.71
3	1227	606	17.89	49.39
4	683	346	9.96	50.66
5 plus	835	453	12.18	54.25
Study site^**
Korogocho	3613	1894	52.68	52.42
Viwandani	3245	1455	47.32	44.84
HHH Education^**
No education	291	151	4.24	51.89
Primary	4172	2117	60.83	50.74
Secondary & above	2393	1081	34.92	45.14
HHH sex
Female	1606	797	23.42	49.63
Male	5225	2552	76.58	48.59
Mean mother age^a	6558		25.04 (5.92)	24.73(5.86)
Mean HHH age^a	6558		34.49 (9.65)	33.92 (9.63)
Average HH size^a	6558		4.67 (1.98)	4.64 (1.90)

Significant at ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01 when testing difference in the proportion of children stunted by each variables; HH = Household; HHH = HH head; ^aMean and standard deviations reported

ISSN: 1471-2458