Table 4 Baseline characteristics of wasted and non-wasted children before and after propensity score matching
|  | Unmatched (N = 138,782) | Matched (N = 35,939) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variables | Not Wasted | Wasted | P Value | %Bias | Not Wasted | Wasted | P Value | %Bias |
Total | 93.7 | 6.3 | Â | Â | 81.6 | 18.4 | Â | Â |
Child Age in Months Mean (SD) | 28.7 (17.2) | 24.1 (17.4) |  < 0.001 | -26.0 | 25.5 (17.2) | 24.8 (17.4) | 0.51 | -1.0 |
Child Sex | ||||||||
 Male | 50.2 | 55.4 |  |  | 53.1 | 54.5 |  |  |
 Female | 49.8 | 44.6 |  < 0.001 | -11.0 | 46.9 | 45.5 | 0.27 | -1.7 |
Place of Residence | ||||||||
 Urban | 33.2 | 30.1 |  |  | 32.4 | 33.9 |  |  |
 Rural | 66.8 | 69.9 | 0.001 | 3.8 | 67.6 | 66.1 | 0.01 | -3.9 |
Pregnancy Type | ||||||||
 Singleton Pregnancy | 97.2 | 96.1 |  |  | 97.0 | 95.8 |  |  |
 Multiple Pregnancy | 2.8 | 3.9 |  < 0.001 | 5.7 | 3.0 | 4.2 | 0.002 | 4.8 |
Currently Breastfeeding | ||||||||
 No | 63.9 | 49.7 |  |  | 54.4 | 53.4 |  |  |
 Yes | 36.1 | 50.3 |  < 0.001 | 27.6 | 45.6 | 46.7 | 0.83 | -0.3 |
Maternal Age (Y) | ||||||||
 15–24 years | 26.7 | 27.2 |  |  | 27.1 | 28.4 |  |  |
 25–34 years | 50.2 | 49.9 | 0.19 | 1.4 | 51.3 | 48.2 | 0.002 | -4.7 |
 35–49 years | 23.0 | 23.0 | 0.08 | -2.0 | 21.6 | 23.4 | 0.05 | 2.9 |
Maternal Education Level | ||||||||
 No Education | 33.0 | 41.0 |  |  | 37.4 | 36.6 |  |  |
 Primary | 31.8 | 25.9 |  < 0.001 | -14.7 | 27.4 | 27.3 | 0.72 | 0.5 |
 Secondary | 29.3 | 28.3 | 0.25 | -1.3 | 29.8 | 30.6 | 0.30 | 1.6 |
 Higher | 6.0 | 4.8 | 0.002 | -3.6 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 0.19 | 1.9 |
Maternal Marital Status | ||||||||
 Never Married | 4.9 | 3.6 |  |  | 3.3 | 4.0 |  |  |
 Married | 89.9 | 91.9 |  < 0.001 | 6.9 | 92.5 | 90.6 | 0.01 | -4.8 |
 Divorced/Widowed/Separated | 5.3 | 4.5 | 0.001 | -3.8 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 0.01 | 3.5 |
Maternal Employment Status | ||||||||
 Not Employed | 40.9 | 48.1 |  |  | 46.9 | 47.9 |  |  |
 Employed | 59.1 | 51.9 |  < 0.001 | -16.2 | 53.1 | 52.1 | 0.66 | -0.7 |
Wealth Index | ||||||||
 Poorest | 22.1 | 25.8 |  |  | 23.6 | 21.2 |  |  |
 Poorer | 21.2 | 22.7 | 0.16 | 1.6 | 21.9 | 22.2 | 0.39 | -1.3 |
 Middle | 20.4 | 18.6 |  < 0.001 | -4.4 | 19.4 | 19.9 | 0.22 | 1.8 |
 Richer | 19.4 | 18.6 | 0.37 | -1.0 | 19.2 | 21.1 | 0.004 | 4.3 |
 Richest | 16.9 | 14.3 |  < 0.001 | -5.8 | 16.0 | 15.7 | 0.76 | 0.5 |
Maternal Health Behaviour | ||||||||
 First Quantile (Least) | 35.9 | 37.0 |  |  | 36.6 | 33.2 |  |  |
 Second Quantile | 33.6 | 31.4 | 0.001 | -3.6 | 33.1 | 31.9 | 0.83 | 0.3 |
 Third Quantile | 17.8 | 22.8 |  < 0.001 | 12.1 | 20.9 | 24.6 | 0.001 | 5.2 |
 Fourth Quantile | 4.8 | 3.5 |  < 0.001 | -8.0 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 0.1 | 2.2 |
 Fifth Quantile (Highest) | 8.0 | 5.4 |  < 0.001 | -10.3 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 0.60 | 0.7 |