Social dimensions related to anaemia among women of childbearing age from rural India

Abstract

Objective: To examine various sociodemographic aspects related to consumption of micronutrient-rich foods like green leafy vegetables (GLV), which will be helpful in modifying dietary habits, a strategy that merits consideration for prevention of anaemia. Design: Cross-sectional study for collecting data on socio-economic and anthropometric (weight, height) variables, Hb, dietary pattern (FFQ) and peripheral smear examination for classifying nutritional and iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA). Setting: Three villages near Pune city, Maharashtra, India. Subjects: Rural women (n 418) of childbearing age (15-35 years). Results: Mean Hb was 11?07 g/dl. Seventy-seven per cent of the women were anaemic (Hb , 12 g/dl) and 28 % had IDA, indicating that a large proportion of the women had nutritional anaemia. Higher prevalence of IDA was associated with several sociodemographic and maternal parameters, but multiple logistic regression analysis showed significant (P , 0?05) risk of IDA with lower body weight (,40 kg), short maternal height (,145 cm), younger age at marriage (,19 years) and higher parity ($2). Various socio-cultural reasons associated with low consumption of GLV included non-cultivation of GLV, priority for selling them rather than home consumption, dislike of GLV by husband and children, and lack of awareness about different recipes for GLV. Conclusions: Our findings highlight that low consumption of GLV, which are treasures of micronutrients including Fe, is associated with genuine social reasons. This indicates a need for developing action programmes to improve nutritional knowledge and awareness leading to enhanced consumption of Fe-rich foods for preventing anaemia in rural India.

Inequity in India: the case of maternal and reproductive health

“…A hospital based study conducted in Kolkata showed that teenage pregnancies were associated with more adverse complications, such as preterm births and stillbirths compared to adult mothers (69) and a study from Rajasthan showed that pregnant adolescent mothers were as two and half times higher at risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications than adults (29). Finally, young age at marriage was shown to be associated with high levels of anemia during pregnancy in a study in Maharashtra (70). …”

A Double Burden of Overall or Central Adiposity and Anemia or Iron Deficiency Is Prevalent but with Little Socioeconomic Patterning among Moroccan and Tunisian Urban Women

“…Effect of parity on the double burden could also be driven by its relation with anemia or ID. In women of childbearing age, iron status worsened with higher parity in the United States (60) and India (61). Similarly, in pregnant women, iron status was better when parity was <2 (62) and also in nulliparous participants (63).…”

Nutritional Risk Factors of Low Birth Weight Among poor Rural Mothers from Maharashtra, India.

“…These food items being items from their daily food basket, opens an avenue for planning food based interventions for rural Indian mothers that are likely to have higher degree of compliance. Secondly, in view of the recent report [36] imparting nutrition education for dietary modification appears promising approach to bring about behavioural change resulting in sustainable improvement in the overall quality of the maternal diet. In contrast, improving maternal nutritional status of young rural mothers or increasing their age at marriage for preventing early conception are difficult propositions to achieve in a short period of time due to socio-cultural factors.…”