Associations between feeding practices and growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes at 36 months among children living in low- and low-middle income countries who participated in the BRAIN-HIT trial

BMC Nutrition

Table 4 Unadjusted and adjusted means for head circumference Z-scores at 36 months

			Head Circumference Z-Score^a
Measures		N ^b	Mean ± SD (unadjusted)	Mean (adjusted)^c	P value^c
Exclusively breastfed first 6 months	Yes	228	−0.82 ± 1.45	−0.81	0.92
Exclusively breastfed first 6 months	No	131	−0.92 ± 1.27	−0.79
Legumes and nuts	Yes	153	−0.55 ± 1.51	−0.92	0.15
Legumes and nuts	No	206	− 1.08 ± 1.25	−0.69
Eggs	Yes	95	−0.56 ± 1.28	–	–
Eggs	No	264	−0.96 ± 1.41
Zambia	Yes	18	0.32 ± 1.29	0.20	0.94
Zambia	No	73	0.44 ± 1.07	0.18
India	Yes	28	−1.62 ± 0.92	− 1.68	0.74
India	No	128	−1.65 ± 0.97	−1.75
Pakistan	Yes	49	−0.28 ± 1.05	−0.31	< 0.01
Pakistan	No	63	−1.19 ± 1.35	− 1.24
Meat, fish or insects	Yes	101	−0.33 ± 1.32	–	–
Meat, fish or insects	No	258	−1.06 ± 1.36
Zambia	Yes	57	0.27 ± 0.97	0.07	0.13
Zambia	No	34	0.66 ± 1.29	0.44
India	Yes	4	−0.77 ± 1.24	− 0.91	0.12
India	No	152	−1.67 ± 0.94	−1.78
Pakistan	Yes	40	−1.14 ± 1.34	−1.30	< 0.01
Pakistan	No	72	−0.60 ± 1.26	− 0.68
Milk and dairy	Yes	273	−1.16 ± 1.28	−0.87	0.22
Milk and dairy	No	86	0.11 ± 1.29	−0.61
Modified Minimum Dietary Diversity	Yes	209	−0.74 ± 1.42	−0.86	0.27
Modified Minimum Dietary Diversity	No	150	−1.01 ± 1.33	−0.72
Modified Minimum Meal Frequency	Yes	287	−0.97 ± 1.32	−0.77	0.32
Modified Minimum Meal Frequency	No	72	−0.41 ± 1.54	−0.92
Modified Minimum Acceptable Diet	Yes	168	−0.79 ± 1.36	−0.78	0.65
Modified Minimum Acceptable Diet	No	191	−0.91 ± 1.41	−0.83

^aZ-scores deemed implausible (<-5SD or > 5SD) according to WHO criteria were set to missing
^b N includes those with non-missing head circumference measurements
^cAdjusted means were estimated using linear models fitting head circumference Z score and adjusted for SES, site, intervention group, resuscitation status, sex, exclusively breastfed first 6 months, birth weight, preterm status, maternal age, and maternal education level. Statistical significance for a difference in means for those with and without each food consumption measure was determined by the F test. Tests of whether the association between each measure and the outcome differed by site were conducted. Interactions with site were significant for egg consumption (p = 0.01) and for meat, fish, or insects (p = 0.05); head circumference Z score means are shown by site for these measures