The effect of health visitors on breastfeeding in Glasgow

Table 2 Characteristics from Child Health surveillance records of infants linked to health visitors

CHS Visit	Characteristics		Records linked to one HV/GP pair (n1 = 5401)	Questionnaire returned (n2 = 3294)	Dataset analysed (n3 = 2145)	p (*)
	Mother's age – years	(mean)	28.4	28.6	28.8	0.04^a
	Mother employed	(%)	56.2	58.2	61.4	<0.001^b
	Mother smoker	(%)	33.9	34.3	33.7	NS^b
	Father's age – years	(mean)	30.9	31.0	31.0	NS^a
	Father employed	(%)	82.0	82.9	83.8	NS^b
	Father smoker	(%)	43.0	41.7	42.4	NS^b
	DEPCAT	(mean)	5.0	4.9	4.9	0.04^a
1	Age – days	(mean)	13.2	13.1	13.2	NS^a
	Any breastfeeding	(%)	37.8	38.9	38.9	NS^b
	Only breastfeeding	(%)	33.5	34.7	35.2	NS^b
2	Age – days	(mean)	50.3	50.3	50.3	NS^a
	Any breastfeeding	(%)	31.4	32.0	32.0	NS^b
	Only breastfeeding	(%)	23.1	23.5	24.1	NS^b
3	Age – days	(mean)	254	253	252	NS^a
	Ever breastfed	(%)	45.7	46.7	45.8	NS^b
	Breastfeeding now	(%)	20.2	20.4	20.6	NS^b
	Age stopped – weeks	(mean)	3.4	3.5	3.6	NS^a

* Difference between column n1 and column n3
a t-test for significance of difference of means
b Chi-squared test for significance of difference in proportions
DEPCAT measures material deprivation using small area census data which correlate closely with morbidity and mortality data [11].
DEPCAT 1 = most affluent postcode sectors, DEPCAT 7 = most deprived postcode sectors.
CHS is Child Health Surveillance Programme which includes standard visits to all infants throughout the UK [20].

ISSN: 1746-4358