This study investigates the severity and distribution of anemia among nonpregnant and pregnant women aged 15 to 49 years in urban and rural sectors of 26 states in India and its association with certain economic and biosocial factors. A national survey was conducted to collect data on hemoglobin, height, weight, and certain economic and biosocial factors of 72 660 nonpregnant and 5619 pregnant women. Nonpregnant women aged less than 25 years are most affected by anemia. Women's education and standard of living in the households have a vital role in reducing anemia. Urban and well-nourished women also suffer less from anemia. The severity of anemia is higher among pregnant than nonpregnant women. Efforts must be made to educate women and enhance their level of economic status so that the prevalence of anemia can be reduced substantially.

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The extent of anemia and its socioeconomic determinants among the preschool children (6-59 months old) in India have been studied in this article. Relevant data are taken from the third round of the National Family Health Survey. The initial analysis reveals some interesting features. The most affected children are in the age-group of 6 to 23 months. Beyond this age a decreasing trend is observed up to the age of 48 to 59 months. The highest and the lowest prevalence of anemia have been found to be in the central and the northeast zones, respectively. The vulnerable groups are the children of illiterate parents and those belonging to the poor families in the rural areas. Categorical logistic regression also confirms that status of literacy and wealth of parents have strong negative association with the status of anemia of the children.

Undernutrition in the form of underweight, stunting and wasting and low consumption of dietary intake (energy and protein) was found to be widely prevalent among Kamar tribal children. Therefore, an urgent dietary intervention programme is necessary. Further studies are required to investigate into problem and to supplement the key nutrients which are required to ensure a good nutritional status in children.

Background: Early onset of menarche is one of the most important factors for breast cancer and other associated health hazards. The aim of this study was to investigate the early age at menarche and its associated factors in school girls (age, 10-12 years) in Rajshahi District, Bangladesh. Methods: Data was collected from Rajshahi District, Bangladesh, using multistage random sampling. Independent sample t test and binary logistic regression model were used in this study. A total number of 386 school girls aged 10-12 years were considered as a sample for this study. Results: This study revealed that more than 48% girls already attained menarche within the age of 12 years, among them 25.6%, 41.0%, and 58.3% girls experienced menarche at the age of 10, 11, and 12 years, respectively. It was observed that the menarcheal girls were significantly taller (p < 0.01) and heavier (p < 0.01) than non-menarcheal girls. The menarcheal girls' mothers were heavier (p < 0.01), shorter (p < 0.01), had more BMI (p < 0.01), reached menarche (p < 0.05) earlier than non-menarcheal girls' mothers. Menarcheal girls had less number of siblings (p < 0.01) and lower order of birth (p < 0.05) than non-menarcheal girls. After controlling the effect of other factors, multiple logistic regression model demonstrated that obese girls were more likely to attain menarche than under-[AOR = 0.279, CI 95% 0.075-0.986; p < 0.05] and normal [AOR = 0.248, CI 95% 0.082-0.755; p < 0.05] weight girls. Urban school girls had more chance to get menarche than rural school girls at same age (AOR = 0.012, 95% CI 0.003-0.047; p < 0.01). Conclusions: Therefore, modern lifestyle changes may have the important factors for early age at menarche of the studied girls in Bangladesh.