Table 1 Demographic, social-economic, and birth characteristics of the study participants.

From: Child marriage, maternal serum metal exposure, and risk of preterm birth in rural Bangladesh: evidence from mediation analysis

Variable

Overall (n = 780)

Term birth (n = 605)

Preterm birth (n = 175)

P

Baseline age (years)

22.72 ± 4.01

22.69 ± 4.00

22.83 ± 4.06

0.7a

BMI (kg/m2)

20.42 ± 3.16

20.49 ± 3.27

20.19 ± 2.74

0.2a

  Weight (kg)

55.2 ± 8.05

55.99 ± 8.14

52.46 ± 7.09

4.4 × 10−08a

  Height (cm)

150.97 ± 5.39

151.26 ± 5.31

149.98 ± 5.58

7.5 × 10−03a

Marriage age (years)

17.46 ± 2.31

17.76 ± 2.25

16.43 ± 2.19

1.4 × 10−11a

Child marriage

  No

434 (55.6%)

383 (63.3%)

51 (29.1%)

2.3 × 10−15c

  Yes

346 (44.4%)

222 (36.7%)

124 (70.9%)

 

Education

  No formal education

106 (13.6%)

76 (12.6%)

30 (17.1%)

1.2 × 10−2b

  Primary education

252 (32.3%)

211 (34.9%)

41 (23.4%)

 

  Secondary or higher

422 (54.1%)

318 (52.6%)

104 (59.4%)

 

Spouse education

  No formal education

201 (25.8%)

139 (23.0%)

62 (35.4%)

4.4 × 10−05b

  Primary education

251 (32.2%)

217 (35.9%)

34 (19.4%)

 

  Secondary or higher

328 (42.1%)

249 (41.2%)

79 (45.1%)

 

Secondhand smoking

  No

465 (59.6%)

369 (61.0%)

96 (54.9%)

0.2c

  Yes

315 (40.4%)

236 (39.0%)

79 (45.1%)

 

Income

  ≤4000 Taka

354 (45.4%)

251 (41.5%)

103 (58.9%)

1.2 × 10−04b

  4001–6000 Taka

334 (42.8%)

273 (45.1%)

61 (34.9%)

 

  ≥6000 Taka

86 (11.0%)

76 (12.6%)

10 (5.7%)

 

Number of previous pregnancies

  0

310 (39.7%)

264 (43.6%)

64 (36.6%)

0.2b

  1

239 (30.1%)

183 (30.2%)

56 (32.0%)

 

  ≥6

213 (27.3%)

158 (26.1%)

55 (31.4%)

 

Birth type

  Vaginal

494 (63.3%)

364 (60.2%)

130 (74.3%)

9.0 × 10−4c

  Cesarean

286 (36.7%)

241 (39.8%)

45 (25.7%)

 

Birth place

  Home

413 (52.9%)

305 (50.7%)

108 (61.7%)

3.7 × 10−4b

  Clinic

54 (6.9%)

38 (6.3%)

16 (9.1%)

 

  Hospital

310 (39.7%)

259 (43.0%)

51 (29.1%)

 

Child sex

  Male

398 (51.0%)

314 (51.9%)

84 (48.0%)

0.4c

  Female

382 (49.0%)

291 (48.1%)

91 (52.0%)

 

Gestational age (weeks)

37.9 ± 2.06

38.76 ± 1.15

34.94 ± 1.70

9.2 × 10−75a

  1. Continuous variables are presented as mean ± standard deviation; categorical variables are presented as frequency and proportion [n (%)].
  2. aP value was derived from the Student’s t test.
  3. bP value was derived from the rank-sum test.
  4. cP value was derived from the χ2 test.
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