Disparities exist between National food group recommendations and the dietary intakes of women

BMC Women's Health

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of women in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health by pregnancy status

	Trying to conceive (n454, 6.1%)		Pregnant (n606, 8.1%)		Birth < 12 mths ago (n829, 11.1%)		Other (n5597, 74.8%)
	Mean	95% CI	Mean	95% CI	Mean	95% CI	Mean	95% CI
Age (years)	27.5*	27.4-27.6	27.4*	27.3-27.5	27.5*	27.4-27.6	27.1	27.1-27.1
Height (cm)	166.7	166.1-167.3	165.7	165.1-166.3	166.3	165.8-166.8	166.2	166.0-166.4
Weight (kg)	70.4	68.9-71.9	-	-	69.4*	68.4-70.4	67.1	66.7-67.5
	%		%		%		%
Excluded based on energy < 4.5 or > 20.0 MJ/d	15.1		7.2*		6.7*		18.0
Post-school education	68.2*		70.1*		65.6*		75.4
Urban resident	67.7*		65.1*		60.0*		75.0
Married/de facto status	96.7*		96.2*		93.9*		51.4
Current smoker	22.7*		9.2*		17.1*		25.9
Difficulty managing on available income	38.0		39.9		54.4*		38.4
Inactive/low level physical activity	45.6*		68.9*		62.3*		40.9
BMI (kg/m²)
Underweight (< 18.5)	4.8		-		3.3		4.8
Normal (18.5-24.99)	52.8*		-		53.1*		60.3
Overweight (25-29.99)	19.9		-		26.9*		20.9
Obese (≥ 30)	22.5*		-		16.8		14.0

CI, Confidence Interval. BMI, Body mass index.
* Statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) compared with the total sample in the 'other' group.
Reproduced and adapted with permission from: Hure A, Young A, Smith R, Collins C: Diet and pregnancy status in Australian women. Public Health Nutr 2009, 12: 853-61.

ISSN: 1472-6874