Copper, zinc and iron levels in infants and their mothers during the first year of life: a prospective study

BMC Pediatrics

Table 1 Comparison of sociodemographic characteristics of infants and their families

Variables	Loss to follow-up		Completed the study
Variables	n = 76	%	n = 35	%	Two-tailed significance
Sex
Male	42	55.30	18	51.50	^a0.14; p > 0.05
Female	34	44.70	17	48.50	^a0.14; p > 0.05
Maternal education
Primary school	30	39.40	8	23	^a2.95; p > 0.05
Completed high school	25	33.00	15	43
University graduate	21	27.60	12	34
Paternal education
Primary school	20	26.30	5	14.40	^a3.31; p > 0.05
Completed high school	28	36.80	12	34.30
University graduate	28	36.80	18	51.30
Maternal occupation
Employee	11	14.47	3	8.60	^a0.63; p > 0.05
Clerk	27	35.53	13	37.20
^cPhysician	1	1.32	2	5.60
Housewife	35	46.05	16	45.70
^cOthers	2	2.63	1	2.90
Feeding status of infants at 2 months
Exclusively breastfed	63	83.00	31	88.60	^a0.59; p > 0.05
Breast milk + other food	13	17.00	4	11.40	^a0.59; p > 0.05
Feeding status of infants at 6 months
Exclusively breastfed			13	37.10
Breast milk + other food			22	62.90
Feeding status of infants at 12 months
Breast milk + other food			35	100
				Mean ± SD
Maternal age (years)	76	30.12 ± 4.95	35	31.30 ± 4.50	^bt = 1.20; p > 0.05
Parity	76	1.70 ± 0.66	35	1.80 ± 0.90	^bt = 0.5; p > 0.05

^aPearson χ² analysis and ^b Student’s t-tests were performed
^cPhysicians and others were excluded from the statistical analysis because of their small numbers

ISSN: 1471-2431