A study to assess the prevalence of anaemia amongst adolescent girls residing in selected slum of Bhopal city

Abstract

Background: Adolescence has been defined by the WHO as the period of life spanning the ages between 10 to 19 years. This is a vulnerable period in the human life cycle for the development of nutritional anaemia. The prevalence of anaemia among adolescents is 27% in developing countries and 6% in developed countries. The study was done with the objective to study the prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girls of selected urban slum of Bhopal.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted for a period of 3 months on adolescent girls residing in selected urban slum of Bhopal. 98 adolescent girls who were registered in Anganwadi and present at time of study were interviewed. The data regarding their socio-demographic profile, anthropometric measurements were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Hemoglobin level was also estimated using Hemocue (Hb 201) and participants were classified as having no, mild, moderate and severe anaemia based on WHO grading of anaemia. Data was compiled using MS Excel and analysed using Epi info 7.Results: Anaemia was present in 57.65% girls. Out of which 34.7% had mild, 44.9% had moderate and 20.4% had severe anaemia. 29.4% knew improper diet as a cause of anaemia followed by Vitamin deficiency (25.8%) and iron deficiency (22.3%). 29.4% girls did not know any cause of anaemia. Similarly 29.4% and 51.7% of study participants did not know of any symptoms and treatment of anaemia respectively.Conclusions: The overall prevalence of anaemia was high among study participants. Knowledge regarding anaemia, its symptoms, causes and treatment was very poor among study participants.

Intestinal parasitic infestations and anemia among urban female school children in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu

“…Similar results were obtained in studies conducted by Mandot and Bamnawat, Poyyamozhi et al ., Melwani et al ., Soman et al ., where the prevalence rates were found to be 41.1%, 62%, 67.77%, and 83.6% respectively. [ 9 18 19 20 ] Any developing nation, which has a prevalence of anemia more than 40%, is categorized as of severe public health significance. [ 21 ] This shows that the burden of anemia is very high among adolescent girls and it poses a major public health problem and interventions have to be carried out to improve their overall health and well-being.…”

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“…Chandrakumari, et al. 12 in Bhopal city showed that mean age of the study participants was 15.2±2.5 years. In the present study, prevalence was significantly more in girls belonging to lower socioeconomic class, 12 (46.2%) compared to other socioeconomic groups.…”

Study of prevalence of anaemia and its socio demographic co-relates among adolescent girls of Bhopal city

“…However, Melwani et al documented anemia 57.65% adolescent girls, of which 34.7% girls had mild anaemia, 44.9% girls have moderate and 20.4% girls had severe anaemia. 10 In our study, anemia was more prevalent (77.9%) in the younger age group of 10-13 years as compared to 72.8% observed in the older age group and it was statistically significant (p=0.048).Similar findings were reported by Kakkar et al in which level of anemia was significantly higher (p< 0.05) in early adolescent (10-13years) age group as compared to 58.3% in middle (14-16 years) and 48.7% in late adolescent (17-19 years). 5 Biradar et al however documented higher prevalence of anemia among the late adolescents i.e.…”