Table 2 Characteristics of study subjects at admission according to study armsa
Parameter | TOTAL n (%) | FSMS-RUTF n (%) | MSMS-RUTF n (%) | PM-RUTF n (%) | p-value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sex | |||||
 Male | 202 (51.5) | 76 (56.7) | 47 (43.1) | 79 (53.0) | 0.097 |
 Female | 190 (48.5) | 58 (43.3) | 62 (56.7) | 70 (47.0) |  |
Age | |||||
 < 24mo | 227 (57.9) | 71 (53.0) | 67 (61.5) | 89 (59.7) | 0.350 |
 > 24mo | 165 (42.1) | 63 (47.0) | 42 (38.5) | 60 (40.3) |  |
Breastfeeding status | |||||
 Breastfed | 188 (48.1) | 59 (55.6) | 55 (50.5) | 74 (49.7) | 0.567 |
 Not breastfed | 203 (51.9) | 74 (44.4) | 54 (49.5) | 75 (50.3) |  |
Highest level of education of mother | |||||
 None | 163 (41.6) | 56 (41.8) | 34 (31.2) | 73 (49.0) | 0.040 |
 Primary | 153 (39.0) | 52 (38.8) | 54 (49.5) | 47 (31.5) |  |
 Secondary or higher | 76 (19.4) | 26 (19.4) | 21 (19.3) | 29 (19.5) |  |
Principal activity of head of the household | |||||
 Subsistence farming | 368 (93.9) | 126 (94.0) | 103 (94.5) | 139 (93.3) | 0.920 |
 Others | 24 (6.1) | 8 (6.0) | 6 (5.5) | 10 (6.7) |  |
Father vital status | |||||
 Dead | 4 (1.0) | 1 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (2.0) | 0.262 |
 Alive | 388 (99.0) | 133 (99.3) | 109 (100) | 146 (98.0) |  |
Mother vital status | |||||
 Dead | 7 (1.8) | 3 (2.8) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (2.7) | 0.244 |
 Alive | 385 (98.2) | 131 (97.8) | 109 (100) | 145 (97.3) |  |
Drinking water source | |||||
 Improved | 297 (76.6) | 101 (75.9) | 81 (75.0) | 115 (78.2) | 0.817 |
 Unimproved | 91 (23.4) | 32 (24.1) | 27 (25.0) | 32 (21.8) |  |
Use of insecticide treated net | |||||
 No insecticide treated net used | 173 (44.6) | 52 (39.4) | 50 (46.3) | 71 (48.0) | 0.324 |
 Using insecticide treated net | 215 (55.4) | 80 (60.6) | 58 (53.7) | 77 (52.0) |  |
Inflammation status | |||||
 No inflammation | 41 (11.7) | 13 (11.0) | 15 (15.3) | 13 (9.7) |  |
 Incubation | 16 (4.6) | 5 (4.2) | 8 (8.2) | 3 (2.2) |  |
 early convalescence | 178 (50.9) | 59 (50.0) | 53 (54.1) | 66 (49.3) | 0.086 |
 late convalescence | 115 (32.8) | 41 (34.8) | 22 (22.4) | 52 (38.8) |  |
Mentzer indexb | |||||
 < 13: beta-thalassemia likely | 60 (15.3) | 19 (14.3) | 20 (18.4) | 21 (14.1) | 0.591 |
 ≥13: beta-thalassemia unlikely | 331 (84.7) | 114 (85.7) | 89 (81.6) | 128 (85.9) |  |
Clinical form of SAMc at admission | |||||
 Oedematous | 217 (55.4) | 72 (53.7) | 64 (58.7) | 81 (54.4) | 0.704 |
 Non-oedematous | 175 (44.6) | 62 (46.3) | 45 (41.3) | 68 (45.6) |  |