Baseline socioeconomic and clinical characteristics of women participating in the study at enrolment, by study group
| Group A (n=120) | Group B (n=115) | Group C (n=115) | Total (N=350) | P value* | |
| Age, years† | 25.58±3.9 | 25.96±4.5 | 26.57±4.3 | 26.03±4.3 | 0.207 |
| Gestational age (weeks)† | 13.2±4.4 | 13.4±4.6 | 13.3±4.3 | 13.3±4.4 | 0.954 |
| Respondent’s education‡ | |||||
| Primary | 19 (15.8) | 17 (14.8) | 15 (13) | 51 (14.6) | 0.917 |
| Middle | 43 (35.8) | 47 (40.9) | 45 (39.1) | 135 (38.6) | |
| Matric and above | 58 (48.3) | 51 (44.3) | 55 (47.8) | 164 (46.9) | |
| Husband’s education‡ | |||||
| Primary | 7 (5.8) | 12 (10.4) | 14 (12.2) | 33 (9.4) | 0.141 |
| Middle | 39 (32.5) | 48 (41.7) | 36 (31.3) | 123 (35.1) | |
| Matric and above | 74 (61.7) | 55 (47.8) | 65 (56.5) | 194 (55.4) | |
| Husband’s occupation‡ | |||||
| Business | 32 (26.7) | 37 (32.2) | 37 (32.2) | 106 (30.3) | 0.298 |
| Labourer | 15 (12.5) | 18 (15.7) | 19 (16.5) | 52 (14.9) | |
| Government/private | 69 (57.5) | 53 (46.1) | 49 (42.6) | 171 (48.9) | |
| Other | 4 (3.3) | 7 (6.1) | 10 (8.7) | 21 (6) | |
| Husband’s average income (Pakistani rupees)† | 21 483±12 910 | 19 430±11 608 | 20 379±12 497 | 20 446±12 352 | 0.445 |
| Anthropometry† | |||||
| Height (cm) | 152.1±9.8 | 152.5±10.2 | 154.2±6.1 | 152.9±8.9 | 0.170 |
| Weight (kg) | 66.36±12.5 | 70.75±15.7 | 70.09±13.2 | 69.16±13.9 | 0.095 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 28.3±5.4 | 30.1±6.7 | 29.7±5.4 | 29.4±5.9 | 0.133 |
| Exposure to vitamin D‡ | |||||
| Household receives adequate amount of sunlight | 111 (92.5) | 109 (94.8) | 106 (92.2) | 326 (93.1) | 0.694 |
| Usually wear veil/burqa when outside house | 117 (97.5) | 112 (97.4) | 108 (93.9) | 337 (96.3) | 0.259 |
| Total time spent under the sun in a day (min) | 68.9±44.4 | 59.0±38.1 | 68.8±36.6 | 65.6±40 | 0.097 |
| Maternal diet§ | n=117 | n=115 | n=104 | n=336 | |
| Food groups consumed† | 3.83±1.13 | 3.69±1.12 | 3.69±1.01 | 3.74±1.09 | 0.557 |
| MDD-Wঠ| 29 (24.8) | 25 (21.7) | 20 (19.2) | 75 (22.3) | 0.607 |
Group A: 4000 IU/day; group B: 2000 IU/day; group C: 400 IU/day (control group).
*P values for continuous variables using ANOVA; categorical variable p values are from χ2 test.
†Data presented as mean±SD.
‡Data presented as n (%).
§Food groups: (1) grains, white roots, tubers and plantains; (2) pulses; (3) nuts and seeds; (4) dairy; (5) meat, poultry and fish; (6) eggs; (7) dark green leafy vegetables; (8) vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables; (9) other vegetables; and (10) other fruits.
¶MDD-W is a dichotomous indicator of whether women have consumed at least 5 out of 10 defined food groups the previous day or night.
ANOVA, analysis of variance; BMI, body mass index; MDD-W, minimum dietary diversity for women.