scholarly journals A comparison of nutritional status of rural and urban adolescent girls from schools in North India: a cross-sectional study

Author(s):  
Neha Goyal

Background: Adolescence is a nutritionally vulnerable period for a number of specific reasons, including high requirements for growth, eating patterns and lifestyles, risk-taking behaviour and, susceptibility to social and environmental influences. The objectives of the study were to compare the nutritional status of rural and urban school going adolescent girls by anthropometric measurements.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in urban as well as rural schools of Haldwani block of district Nainital from October 2012 to September 2014. Multistage random sampling was used to select the requisite number, 770 (443 rural and 327 urban) of school going adolescent girls of 10 to 19 years of age, who were interviewed and anthropometric measurements were recorded for assessing the nutritional status. WHO 2007 growth standards for 5-19 years old for girls was followed. Height-for-age Z scores and BMI-for-age Z scores were calculated with help of WHO Anthro Plus Software version 1.0.4. Data was analysed using SPSS v.20.Results: Mean weight and mean BMI of adolescent girls in urban area was significantly higher than those in rural area, while mean height in two groups was not significantly different. Mean height-for-age and the mean BMI-for-age of the study girls was below median of the 2007 WHO reference throughout the adolescent period.Conclusions: Thinness was significantly higher in rural girls while overweight and obesity was not significantly different in rural and urban girls. 

Author(s):  
Sambedana Mohanty ◽  
Manasee Panda

AbstractBackgroundAdolescent girls are vulnerable to many problems, undernutrition being the most common. This results in growth restriction resulting in stunting, wasting, underweight and last but not the least iron-deficiency anaemia. Nutritional needs are high during puberty which later leads to complications during pregnancy and its outcomes.Materials and methodsA field based cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the nutritional status of the girls and to determine the various factors responsible for undernutrition. After clearance from the Institution Ethical Committee (IEC) and permission from Child Development Programme Officer (CDPO), the study was conducted in the anganwadi centres (AWC) of urban slums in the field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine from the 1st October 2014 to the 31st October 2016. All the adolescent girls enlisted in the seven anganwadi centres were included as study subjects with their consent. A pre-designed, pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on following sections. (a) socio-demographic profile and (b) nutritional status. Dietary intake was taken using the 24-h recall method. Anthropometry was measured and haemoglobin (Hb) was estimated. SPSS version 21 was used for descriptive and analytic statistics.ResultsAmong the 160 girls 98(61.3%), 69(43.1%), 53(33.1%) were underweight, stunted and wasted, respectively. Anaemia was present among 144(90%) of the girls.ConclusionStrict monitoring of weekly iron and folic acid supplementation (WIFS) as well as nutrition education are essential measures to solve the problem of undernutrition among adolescent girls.


Author(s):  
Geeta Singh ◽  
Anish Khanna ◽  
Monika Agarwal ◽  
V. K. Singh ◽  
Rekha Sachan

Background: Menstruation and related problems are difficult issues for adolescent girls and are a common reason for consulting healthcare providers. The objective of the study was to study the age of menarche, menstrual pattern, menstrual related health problems and health seeking behaviour for it.Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out in urban as well as rural schools of Lucknow district from August 2014 to September 2015. Multistage random sampling was used to select the requisite number of girls. A total of 600 girls of age group 10-19 years were interviewed and analysed using appropriate statistical methodsResults: The mean age of menarche of the total population was 13.2±1 years. During menstruation, urban girls had significantly excessive passage of clots (26.5%) and faced more discomfort in their routine activities (78.8%) when compared to their rural counterpart (25.2% and 73.4% respectively), whereas the relation was inverse with regard to school absenteeism that was significantly higher in rural girls (44.0%) than urban girls (32.3%). The usual age of menarche as well as the pattern of pre-menstrual symptoms varied significantly between the girls of rural and urban areas.Conclusions: With few exceptions, menstrual health related problems have an unequal distribution in girls of rural and urban origin. Hence effective management of menstrual problems will lose its chase unless health education targeting all the three groups viz.; adolescent girls, concerned parents and teachers have to be uniformly strengthened.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul Asikin

The onset of menarche is part of physical and sexual maturity process. Previous studies have shown that the nutritional status of an adolescenst girl have important influence on the menarche age. The study was designed to determine the age of menarche and its relation to nutritional status of adolescent girls in SMP Negeri 10 Bulukumba. This was an analytical survey with a Cross Sectional Study approach. The sample in this study consisted of 74 people (total sampling), namely all students who had experienced menarche. The result of this study indicate that of the 74 respondents studied, there were 48 respondents had a good nutritional status, 43.75% had experienced normal menarche and 56.25% had experienced abnormal menarche. There were 26 respondents had a malnutrition, 15.38% had experienced normal menarche and 84.62% had experienced abnormal menarche. The results of statistical tests showed that there was an association between the nutritional status and the age at menarche of adolescent girls in SMP Negeri 10 Bulukumba (Pv=0,020; OR= 4,28). It is concluded that nutritional status is significantly associated with the age at menarche in adolesence. A good nutritional status in adolescent girls will experience puberty normally, resulting in normal and uninterrupted menstruation.


Author(s):  
Sreeshma Pavithran ◽  
D. D. Bant

Background: Adolescence is a period with rapid growth drive and demands higher nutrition. Improving Nutritional status of rural adolescent girls becomes the cornerstone of community’s nutritional status and target intervention for breaking intergeneration cycle of nutritional deficiencies. The objective of the study was to determine nutritional status and study the demographic factors affecting nutritional status of rural adolescent girls in Dharwad district.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 350 adolescent school girls studying in eight high schools in rural area of Dharwad district during July – September 2017. Demographic profile and dietary pattern was obtained. Anthropometric measurement and clinical examination was done. Statistical analysis was done using SSPS package.Results: Study found 14.9% of rural adolescent girls were under- weight for their age. Based on BMI, 25.2% of girls were under-nourished and 3.7% were over nourished. Significant relation with age, type of diet and age of menarche was found at p value <0.05.Conclusions: There is high prevalence of under nutrition among adolescent girls and is under nutrition is associated with micronutrient deficiencies like anaemia. There is need to create awareness to improve the nutritional needs of adolescent girls in rural areas.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. e0257055
Author(s):  
Md. Kamruzzaman ◽  
Shah Arafat Rahman ◽  
Sharmin Akter ◽  
Humaria Shushmita ◽  
Md. Yunus Ali ◽  
...  

Background Early life nutrition plays a critical role in the development of better health and nutrition in adulthood. However, assessing the nutritional status of Bangladeshi children and adolescents through measurement of body composition using skinfold thickness is barely studied. The current study aims to determine children’s body composition and nutritional status, and contributing factors among children aged 2 to 15 years in the northern part of Bangladesh. Methods This is a descriptive cross-sectional study done in Bangladesh. Anthropometric methods, including multiple skinfold thickness and basic anthropometric and socio-demographic characteristics, were used. Body composition was calculated from multiple skinfold thicknesses using the standard regression equation. Nutritional status was measured using Z score according to WHO 2007 reference standard. A total of 330 children from Naogaon, Bogra and Kurigram districts in Bangladesh were examined from April 2019 to September 2019. Results The Nutritional status of 2–15 years old child is exceedingly poor in the northern part of Bangladesh. Fat mass and fat-free mass were higher among children from Kurigram district than from Bogra and Naogaon district. Body fat percentages and arm fat area were greater among female children than males. The overall prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting was around 25%, 32% and 29%, respectively, and the rate was higher among girls and children aged 2–5 years. The average SD score for weight-for-age, height-for-age, and BMI-for-age was -1.295, -0.937 and -1.009. The median weight-for-age and height-for-age Z scores of boys and girls were below the WHO reference percentile rank. Girls were twice (OR:1.951, CI:1.150–3.331) as likely to suffer from being underweight than boys. Children who don’t practice handwashing are three times (OR:3.531, CI:1.657–7.525) more likely to be underweight. Children become underweight and stunted when their family income is not sufficient to maintain their nutritional requirements. Conclusions The children of the three northern districts had a poor nutritional status, and family income was the potential contributing factor. Therefore, interventions like the promotion of income-generating activities and integrated approaches to ensuring food diversification could be an option to address the nutritional problem of children of the three northern districts of Bangladesh.


Author(s):  
Prashant R. Kokiwar ◽  
P. Yadu Vamshi Reddy ◽  
P. Nikitha ◽  
P. Rajitha ◽  
P. Nissi Angeline ◽  
...  

Background: Under nourished adolescent girls are more likely to give birth to malnourished child when they become pregnant and deliver. Hence their nutritional status is of much more importance. Objectives were to study the nutritional status of adolescent girls, to study the correlates and determinants of nutritional status and compare it between government and private schools.Methods: A school based cross sectional study was carried out for a period of three months. This study was comparative in nature, comparing the adolescent girls from government and private schools. It was possible to study 74 and 97 adolescent girls from government and private schools respectively. Anthropometric measurements were recorded using standard guidelines.Results: There were only 4 cases (5.4%) of underweight and only 3 cases (4.1%) in government school. Similarly there was only one case (1.03%) of underweight and only 7 (7.2%) of the cases in the private school. The mean height was significantly less among the children from government school compared to the private school. But there was no difference between the mean weight and BMI of children from two schools.Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight and obesity was low in the present study. It was not found to be associated with education and occupation of parents and type of family.


Author(s):  
Thi Tuyet Le ◽  
Thi Thuy Dung Le ◽  
Nam Khanh Do ◽  
V. Savvina Nadezhda ◽  
M. Grjibovski Andrej ◽  
...  

(1) Background: Vietnam is a multiethnic country undergoing rapid economic development, the improvement in nutritional status in preschool children is not equally shared by all ethnic groups; (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed from September–December 2018 on 16,177 children aged 24–60 months representing Kinh (n = 14421), Muong (n = 1307) and Tay (n = 449) ethnic groups. Prevalence of malnutrition, overweight, obesity and anthropometric indices were compared across ethnic groups, using WHO 2006 child growth standards; (3) Results: The prevalence of malnutrition among children of Kinh, Muong and Tay origins was 14.7%, 34.3% and 43.2%, respectively. The corresponding data for overweight was 5.5%, 2.7%, 2.2% and for obesity 2.8%, 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively. The prevalence of stunting remained the highest in three subtypes of malnutrition in all ethnic groups. Kinh children were heavier and taller than the other groups, while Muong children were taller than Tay children (p-value < 0.001); and (4) Conclusions: Malnutrition remains a major public health issue among children of minor ethnicities while overweight and obesity is an emerging challenge for the Kinh ethnic group. The results imply that a community-based intervention should be specific to ethnicity to reduce the gap in nutritional status between ethnic groups in Vietnam.


Author(s):  
Asuka Miyazaki ◽  
Mitsuaki Matsui ◽  
Rathavy Tung ◽  
Bunsreng Taing ◽  
Laura V White ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Inappropriate feeding and hygiene practices and poor environment are associated with malnutrition. We aimed to investigate the contributions of feeding, hygiene practices and recent illness to the nutritional status of rural Cambodian infants and any sex-specific differences. Methods In a cross-sectional study, nested within an ongoing birth cohort, trained fieldworkers conducted anthropometry and collected information from the main caregiver during home visits. Multivariable linear regression was used to investigate associations with nutritional status as length-for-age z-scores (LAZ) and weight-for-length z-scores (WLZ). Results A total of 156 children, 87 (55.8%) male, ages 0–11 months were enrolled. The prevalence of acute malnutrition (WLZ &lt;−2) in males and females was 2.3% (2/87) and 5.8% (4/69), respectively, and 23.0% (20/87) of males and 14.5% (10/69) of females were stunted (LAZ &lt;−2). WLZ but not LAZ decreased with age. WLZ was independently negatively associated with increasing age (β-coefficient −0.14 [95% confidence interval {CI} −0.20 to −0.08], p&lt;0.001), and regular use of feeding bottles (β-coefficient −0.46 [95% CI −0.83 to −0.10], p=0.014), and positively with handwashing with soap (β-coefficient 0.40 [95% CI 0.05 to 0.75), p=0.027). Conclusions The prevalence of acute malnutrition was low, but stunting was prevalent without evidence of a sex difference. Non-linear growth faltering was associated with increasing age and hygiene/feeding practices.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document