Assessment of Nutritional Status of Adolescent College Girls at Rawalpindi

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the nutritional status of adolescent college girls by assessing the dietary intake in terms of carbohydrates, proteins, Estimating the hemoglobin levels in the study group and studying the clinical signs of malnutrition with special emphasis to vitamin A, iron and iodine deficiency. Design of Study:A cross-sectional study.Settings: Two Post-Graduate women colleges of Rawalpindi. Materials and Methods:Nutritional status of 508 adolescent girls was assessed with a questionnaire, clinical examination and biochemical estimation (hemoglobin). The data thus collected was analyzed in July 2006 on computer with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Excel.Results: Results revealed that 20%of girls were having BMI <18.5, 77% above 18.5% and 3% were obese. 57.09% of the girls had goiter out of which 52.96% had palpable goiter and 4.13% had visible goiter. Pallor conjunctiva was seen in 1% girls. No clinical signs of Vitamin A deficiency were seen. Biochemical results indicated that 32.87% of the girls was suffering from Iron deficiency anemia.Conclusions: Large longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, regarding nutrient consumption, dietary habits and nutritional intervention are required in the adolescent girls. These studies can be thought provoking for the policy maker at the government level. Nutritional education and health promotion can be used as tool to improve the health status of the nation.

A Peer-Led Pulse-based Nutrition Education Intervention Improved School-Aged Children’s Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP) and Nutritional Status in Southern Ethiopia

“…Other studies (Fikru, 2014) conducted in South East Oromiya, Ethiopia on randomly selected adolescents reported that mean pulse consumption was significantly improved from 5.29 (4.3) at baseline to 12.44 (4.8) after six months of pulse nutrition education in the intervention group. Other studies such as Shahidet.al (Shahid, et al, 2009) also reported the same results.…”

Undernutrition and Associated Factors Among Adolescent Girls in Damot Sore District, Southern Ethiopia

“…Hence, adolescents were more affected by stunting despite improving conditions over time now days. The prevalence of thinness 19.5%, was goes in line with a study conducted in Adwa, a study conducted in Wukro, northern Ethiopia, a study conducted in Babile district, eastern Ethiopia and a study conducted in Rawalpindi, India which were 21.4%, 21.6%, 21.6% and 20% [2,19,22,35]. However, the prevalence in the current study was much lower than studies conducted in eastern Tigray which was 33.7% [4], a study conducted in four zones (central, eastern, north-western and southern zones) of Tigray, northern Ethiopia which was 58.3% [20] and studies conducted in different areas of India which were 25.7%, 28.2%, 43.5% and 48.0% respectively [13,23,32,36,37].…”

A Study on Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls and their Consciousness about Body Image

“…A.S.Indupallli 6 observed that 27.6% of adolescent girls were suffering from chronic energy deficiency and 72.4% were nutritionally normal, while no one was overweight. Shahid et al 7 conducted a study in Pakistan among adolescent girls and results revealed that 20% of girls had BMI <18.5 and 3% were obese. The high prevalence of malnutrition in our study might be because most of the girls were from the lower socio economic status.…”