Dept. of Community Medicine, Santhiram Medical College, Nandyal, Kurnool
Online published on 16 May, 2013.
Adolescent constitute over 21.4 % of the population in India. This period needs special attention because of turmoil of adolescence faces due to different stages of development, different circumstances, different needs and diverse problems. The psychosocial and emotional problems are of considerable magnitude and they may exert significant influence on their nutritional status. Unfortunately assessment of nutritional status of adolescent girls has been the least explored area of research particularly in rural India.
of the present study were to (i) assess the nutritional status of the adolescent girls (ii) find out the reproductive health problems of the adolescent girls.
Community based cross sectional study.
68.9% of the study subjects had hypochromic red cells suggesting Iron deficiency anaemia. The mean age of the menarche was found to be 13.7 years. Dysmenorrhoea was the commonest problems faced by adolescent girls. Two third of study subjects were undernourished (BMI <18.5 Kg/M2). To achieve the optimum health and development of the adolescent segment of the population. There is a need to introduce a comprehensive Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI) at block level.
Adolescent Girls, Anemia, BMI
