Sociodemographic and Lifestyle Characteristics Associated with Maternal Dietary Patterns in Mexico

TL;DR

This study explores how sociodemographic and lifestyle factors influence dietary patterns among pregnant women in Mexico.

Contribution

The study identifies specific dietary patterns and their associations with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors during pregnancy in Mexico.

Findings

A 'Prudent' dietary pattern was linked to higher maternal education, older paternal age, and non-smoking.

The 'Processed foods and fish' pattern was associated with higher education and less household overcrowding.

No sociodemographic factors were found to be associated with the 'Chicken and vegetables' pattern.

Abstract

There is scarce evidence on sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics that may explain adherence to different dietary patterns (DPs) during pregnancy. Our aims were to identify dietary patterns in a sample of pregnant Mexican women and to describe their association with selected sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. This is a secondary cross-sectional analysis of 252 mothers of children that participated as controls in a hospital-based case–control study of childhood leukemia. We obtained parents’ information about selected sociodemographic characteristics, as well as alcohol and tobacco consumption. We also obtained dietary information during pregnancy. We identified DPs using cluster and factor analyses and we estimated their association with characteristics of interest. We identified two DPs using cluster analysis, which we called “Prudent” and “Non healthy”, as well as three DPs through factor analysis, namely “Prudent”, “Processed foods and fish”, and “Chicken and vegetables”. Characteristics associated with greater adherence to “Prudent” patterns were maternal education, older paternal age, not smoking, and being a government employee and/or uncovered population. Likewise, the “Processed foods and fish” pattern was associated with greater maternal and paternal education, as well as those with less household overcrowding. We did not identify sociodemographic variables related to the “Chicken and Vegetables” pattern. Our results may be useful to identify target populations that may benefit from interventions aimed to improve individual dietary decisions during pregnancy.