Prevalence of Anemia in View of Socio-demographic and Health Status of Adolescent Girls Enrolled in Government School at Border-belt of Indian Punjab

ABSTRACT

Poor socio-demographic and health status are considered key factors for prevalence of anemia in school-going adolescent girls in developing countries. A cross-sectional study was conducted (2019–2020) on 32 adolescent girls, randomly selected from 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th standards at Government School, Harike Pattan to assess magnitude of anemia and its associated factors. Hemoglobin level of adolescent girls was assessed using cyanmethaemoglobin method. Subsequently, adolescent girls were interviewed about their hygiene and health status through a pre-structured interview schedule. Collected data were analyzed by applying One-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) with Tukey’s post-hoc test and Chi-square test to investigate prevalence of anemia and its association (p < .05) with various independent variables, correspondingly. Research findings indicated a high (100%) overall prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls, with mild, moderate, and severe anemia in 28, 59, and 13% of total adolescent girls, respectively, reflect the burden of this nutritional turmoil at a great extent. Low mean hemoglobin level (9.9 g/dl) was significantly (p < .05) associated with low socio-economic status, schedule caste, long duration of menstruation, poor personal and food hygiene profile, and infections among adolescent girls. Awareness on factors enhancing iron bio-accessibility among adolescent girls is highly recommended.

KEYWORDS:

• Socio-demographic status
• health status
• anemia
• adolescent girls
• hemoglobin level

Acknowledgments

The researchers are grateful to The Principal, staff and study students at Government Senior Secondary School, Harike Pattan, District - Tarn Taran for their valuable cooperation. Special thanks to Medical Officer (Incharge) and staff, Community Health Center, Harike Pattan, District - Tarn Taran for providing guidance regarding the assessment of hemoglobin and consumption of deworming tablets. Further, we acknowledge the valuable services of Laboratory Technicians at Singh Laboratory and E. C. G. Center, Patti, Tarn Taran for blood analysis of the adolescent girls.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.