Household food access and child malnutrition: results from the eight-country MAL-ED study

Table 2 Relationship between socioeconomic status and nutritional indicators

	N	% Stunted (HAZ < −2)	p-value ^†	% Wasted (WHZ < −2)	p-value ^†	% Severely food access insecure^§	p-value ^†
Sex
Male	406	42.1	0.95	6.7	0.50	19.5	0.005
Female	382	41.9	0.95	5.5	0.50	28.0	0.005
Age
24-35 months	284	41.2	0.01	5.3	0.07	19.3	0.06
36-47 months	243	49.0		4.1		23.9
48-60 months	262	36.3		8.8		27.9
Water Source
Not improved	109	58.7	<0.001	0.0	<0.01	24.8	0.75
Improved	680	39.3	<0.001	7.1	<0.01	23.4	0.75
Sanitation Facility
Not improved	218	49.5	<0.01	6.4	0.81	25.7	0.39
Improved	571	39.1	<0.01	6.0	0.81	22.8	0.39
Maternal education
None	135	57.0	<0.001	5.2	0.15	22.2	0.59
1-5 years	174	43.1		9.1		26.4
>5 years	480	37.3		5.2		22.9
Bank Account
No	545	42.2	0.83	6.6	0.36	28.3	<0.0001
Yes	244	41.4	0.83	4.9	0.36	13.1	<0.0001
People per room
<2	433	35.3	<0.001	10.1	<0.001	20.0	0.023
≥2	356	50.0	<0.001	2.8	<0.001	26.9	0.023

^§Severe food access insecurity is defined based on the guidance in Coates et al. 2007.
^†p-values reflect results of t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests.

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