Analyse de clusters : nouvelle approche pour identifier les profils de mères avec des caractéristiques similairesClusters Analysis: New Approach for Identifying Mother’s Profiles with Similar Characteristics

This study used clusters analysis, which is an exploratory technique to classify individuals into preferable groups based on sets of identifying variables. The objective was to identify mother’s profiles with similar characteristics from a biomedical and demographic point of view and to study the distribution of maternal age by clusters. This study was based on birth certificates in two Belgian regions including 3,600 singletons in December 2014. A multiple correspondence analysis followed by a bottom-up hierarchical classification was conducted. Three clusters have been identified; among the clusters, the sociodemographic and biomedical characteristics, and distribution of maternal age are significantly different.