Respiratory health, allergies, and the farm environment: design, methods and enrollment in the observational Wisconsin Infant Study Cohort (WISC): a research proposal

Table 5 Home environment and personal health characteristics of WISC study participants

Characteristic	Farm (n = 111) (%)	Non-farm (n = 129) (%)	p-value
Number of children in household			NS
≥ 4	19	12
3	23	15
2	26	42
1	25	23
Unknown	7	8
Employment (mother)			0.005
Employed outside home/farm	60	78
Not employed outside home/farm	36	19
Unknown	4	3
Mode of delivery
Vaginal	83	79	NS
C-section	17	21	NS
Child exclusively breastmilk fed (2 months)	50	47	NS
Child spends time at least 1 day per week (2 month infant)
Daycare facility	14	21	NS
Another home	46	31	0.02
Maternal smoking
During year prior to pregnancy	2	4	NS
During pregnancy	9	15	NS
Maternal regular^a farm milk consumption during pregnancy	16	2	< 0.0001
Dog ownership (prenatal)^b	73	52	0.0009
Dog spends time indoors	31	35	NS
Cat ownership (prenatal)^b	76	32	< 0.0001
Cat spends time indoors	19	15	NS
Maternal history of allergic rhinitis (ever)	11	18	NS
Maternal history of asthma (ever)	16	21	NS
Maternal history of atopic dermatitis (ever)	18	20	NS

ISSN: 1756-0500