1Reader, Apollo College of Nursing, Ambattur to Vanagaram Main Road, Chennai
2Senior Consultant, KKCTH Hospital
3Principal, Apollo College of Nursing, Ambattur to Vanagaram Main Road, Chennai
Online published on 10 May, 2018.
Anemia is a major public health problem in young children and pregnant women in South East Asia, but a paucity of data on anemia in adolescent girls in India.
To determine the prevalence of anemia in adolescent school children and association between hemoglobin level and demographic, nutritional and menstrual factors.
A total 294 adolescent school girls aged 9years to 18 years were enrolled for the study, after ethical consideration the relevant information was obtained. Anthropometric assessment was done and venous blood of the study participants were taken and analyzed by SLS method to confirm anemia.
The results revealed that 18.3% of the adolescent girls were having severe anemia, their HB level is <8gm/dl and 57.4% of them were having moderate level of anemia, their HB level is 8.1gm-10 gm/dl. Only 18.7% of them were having normal level of HB, that is 12gm/dl and above. There was no significant association between the demographic, dietary and menstrual variables and the level of hemoglobin.
The prevalence of anemia was higher among the adolescent girls, which is a matter of concern, relevant intervention strategy and constant monitoring are needed while providing nutritional supplementation program to eradicate anemia. Education also must focus on the promotion of cheap available of community dietary resources.
Prevalence, Anaemia, Adolescent girls
