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Table 1 Maternal and child characteristics by country of residence (N = 412)

From: Prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants and child overweight/obesity at 5-year follow-up: a prospective cohort study

Maternal characteristics

Total (n = 412)

Norway (n = 254)

Sweden (n = 158)

p a

Maternal age (mean years (sd))

29.0(4.3)

28.8(4.3)

29.2(4.4)

0.364

missing n(%)

3(0.7)

1(0.4)

2(1.3)

 

Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (kg/m2) n(%)

   

0.031

Underweight (BMI < 18.5)

42(10)

31(12)

11(7)

 

Normal weight (BMI 18.5–25.0)

330(81)

205(81)

125(80)

 

Overweight (BMI > 25.0)

38(9.3)

17(7)

21(13)

 

missing n(%)

2(0.4)

1(0.4)

1(0.6)

 

Maternal education (years) n(%)

   

0.011

less than 9

67(17)

36(14)

31(20)

 

9–11

205(50)

142(56)

63(41)

 

12 or more

135(33)

75(30)

60(39)

 

missing n(%)

5(1.2)

1(0.4)

4(2.5)

 

Maternal smoking at conception (number of cigarettes) n(%)

   

< 0.001

0

225(55)

120(47)

105(67)

 

1–9

42(10)

35(14)

7(4)

 

10 or more

145(35)

99(39)

46(29)

 

Parity n(%)

   

0.245

1

285(69)

181(71)

104(66)

 

2

127(31)

73(29)

54(34)

 

Inter-pregnancy interval (years) n(%)

   

0.187

less than 1.5

102(25)

56(22)

46(29)

 

1.5–5

225(55)

147(58)

78(49)

 

5 or more

85(21)

51(20)

34(22)

 

Previous breastfeeding duration (mean months (sd))

7.3(5.1)

7.5(5.2)

7.1(5.0)

0.546

missing n(%)

30(7.2)

13(5.1)

17(10.8)

 

Maternal weight gain up to 17 weeks of gestation (mean kilograms (sd))

3.2(2.6)

3.1(2.6)

3.3(2.6)

0.601

missing n(%)

30(7.2)

28(11.0)

2(1.3)

 

Child characteristics at birth

Sex n (%)

   

0.987

Boys

211(51)

130(51)

81(51)

 

Girls

201(49)

124(49)

77(49)

 

Birth weight (mean grams (sd))

3445(592)

3401 (568)

3515 (625)

0.056

SGA status n(%)

   

0.908

non-SGA

275(67)

169(67)

106(67)

 

SGA

137(33)

85(33)

52(33)

 

Breastfeeding duration of the index child (mean months (sd))

6.5(3.6)

6.7(3.7)

6.0(3.2)

0.030

missing n(%)

16(3.9)

8(3.1)

8(5.0)

 

Child characteristics at 5 year follow-up

Exact age at five-year follow-up (mean years (sd)

5.2(0.2)

5.1(0.2)

5.4(0.1)

< 0.001

missing n(%)

1(0.2)

0(0)

1(0.6)

 

Weight

   

0.708

Underweight (< 5th percentile)

12(3)

7(3)

5(3)

 

Normal weight (5th–85th percentile.)

346(84)

211(83)

135(87)

 

Overweight (> 85th percentile)

30(7)

21(8)

9(6)

 

Obese (> 95th percentile)

22(5)

15(6)

7(4)

 

missing n(%)

2(0.4)

0(0)

2(1.3)

 

Subscapular skinfolds (mean mm (sd))

5.6(1.7)

6.0 (1.9)

5.1 (1.2)

< 0.001

Triceps skinfolds (mean mm (sd))

10.0(2.2)

10.4 (2.2)

9.2 (1.9)

< 0.001

Subscapular skinfold z-score

−0.01(0.8)

0.2(0.7)

−0.3(0.8)

< 0.001

missing n(%)

29(7.0)

16(6.3)

13(8.2)

 

Triceps skinfold z-score

0.2(0.7)

0.3(0.6)

−0.1(0.7)

< 0.001

missing n(%)

25(6.1)

15(5.9)

10(6.3)

 

BMI-for-sex-and-age z-score

0.1(1.0)

0.2(1.0)

0.1(0.9)

0.499

missing n(%)

2(0.4)

0(0)

2(1.3)

 
  1. Sd standard deviation, BMI body mass index, SGA small for gestational age
  2. ap-values for comparison between the countries by using independent t-tests for continuous variables and χ2 tests for categorical variables