Table 1 Characteristics of mothers, infants and their households
Characteristics | VSLA-N@C group (N = 53) | Control group (N = 50) | P -value |
|---|---|---|---|
Characteristics of households | |||
Food security | |||
Food insecurity, n (%) | 51 (96.2) | 49 (98.0) | 0.593 |
Food security, n (%) | 2 (3.8) | 1 (2.0) | |
Socio-economic status of households | |||
High, n (%) | 3 (5.8) | 7 (14.0) | 0.162 |
Poor, n (%) | 49 (94.2) | 43 (86.0) | |
Mean size of the households (SD) | 5.2 (1.4) | 5.2 (1.7) | 0.880 |
Characteristics of mothers | |||
Mean age of mothers, y (SD) | 27.2 (5.6) | 27.5 (6.9) | 0.834 |
Mean BMI, kg/m2 (SD) | 17.3 (1.7) | 16.7 (1.7) | 0.029 |
Mothers having at least a primary-level education, n (%) | 23 (43.40) | 20 (40.0) | 0.727 |
Average number of children by mother (SD) | 3.1 (1.7) | 3.1 (1.5) | 0.967 |
Member of VSLA, n (%) | 53 (100) | 31 (62.0) | 0.000 |
Mothers living in a polygamous household, n (%) | 14 (26.9) | 20 (40) | 0.199 |
Characteristics of child | |||
Sex | |||
Girls, n (%) | 26 (49.1) | 26 (52.0) | 0.765 |
Boys, n (%) | 27 (50.9) | 24 (48.0) | |
Mean age in months (SD) | 4.57 (0.67) | 5.05 (0.35) | 0.000 |
Mean weight in kg (SD) | 6.8 (1.0) | 6.7 (1.0) | 0.564 |
Mean length in cm (SD) | 63.0 (2.7) | 63.6 (2.6) | 0.234 |
Mean LAZ (SD) | −0.43 (1.19) | −0.58 (1.1) | 0.514 |
Mean WAZ (SD) | −0.16 (1.11) | − 0.61 (1.2) | 0.055 |
Mean WLZ (SD) | 0.23 (1.14) | −0.23 (1.0) | 0.017 |