Nutritional Status of adolescent girls of rural Haryana

Abstract

RESEARCH QUESTION : What is the nutritional status of rural adolescent girls? OBJECTIVES : 1.To assess the anthropometric status of school going girls (13-16yrs). 2. To study the relation between Haemoglobin status and Body mass index(BMI). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTINGS: Block Lakhanmajra under Deptt. Of Community Medicine, PGIMS, Rohtak. PARTICIPANTS: 322girls (13-16yrs) from 2 randomly chosen Girls High schools of the block. . METHODOLOGY: Height and weight of the girls were measured and BMI was calculated. Haemoglobin was measured by Cyanmethaemoglobin method . STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Simple proportions, Chi-square test, ANOVA test. RESULTS: Mean weight of the girls was observed as 37.6 ± 5.46kg, 40.6 ± 5.4kg and 41.3 ± 7.9kg in the age group 13-14yrs, 14-15yrs and 15-16yrs respectively. Mean height of the girls as 151.1±5.8cm, 153.4±5.4cm and 153.6±6.1cm respectively in the above said age groups. About 80% of the girls were under-nourished (BMI <18.5). The anthropometric measurements of SC/BC girls were lower than that of other castes. Mean Hb in girls with BMI <16, 16-18.5 and ≥18.5 are 9.49±1.2, 10.08±1.2and 10.83±1.18 respectively and the difference between the groups has been found to be significant. INTRODUCTION Adolescents are the best human resources. But for many years, their health has been neglected because they were considered to be less vulnerable to disease than the young children or the very old. Their health attracted global attention in the last decade only. Though the issues like STDs, reproductive health have been given due importance, but limited attention has been paid to their nutritional status. The girls constitute a more vulnerable group especially in the developing countries where they are traditionally married at an early age and are exposed to greater risk of reproductive morbidity and mortality. Under-nutrition among adolescent girls is a major public health problem leading onto impaired growth and nutritional anaemia, etc. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. To assess the anthropometric status of school going girls(13-16yrs) 2. To study the relation between Haemoglobin status and Body mass index(BMI) MATERIAL AND METHODS STUDY AREA: The present study was carried out in block Lakhanmajra which is the field practice area attached to the Department of Community Medicine, Pt. B.D.Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak. STUDY PARTICIPANTS: The study subjects were school going girls in the mid Nutritional Status of adolescent girls of rural Haryana 2 of 4 adolescent phase (13-16yrs). There were 11 Govt. Girls High Schools in the block, out of which 2 high schools were randomly selected and all the girls studying in 8, 9 and 10 standard formed part of the study. METHODOLOGY: Anthropometric measurements (height and weight) were done using standard techniques. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from these parameters. Haemoglobin estimation was done by Cyanmethaemoglobin method. Appropriate statistical tests were applied for the analysis of the data.