Nutritional Status of Adolescent Girls Residing in the Urban Field Practice Area of S.N. Medical College, Bagalkot

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is a very crucial period in life characterized by rapid growth and development,
physiologically, psychologically and socially Objective: to study the nutritional status of adolescent girls
residing in the urban field practice area of S.N. Medical College, Bagalkot.
Study Design: A Community based cross sectional study. Setting: field practice areas of the urban health
training centers, Department of Community Medicine, S. Nijalingappa Medical College in Bagalkot.
Participants: 400 unmarried adolescent girls. Sampling: Systematic random sampling.
Statistical Analysis: Data was tabulated in Microsoft Excel 2010 and analyzed by using Open Epi software.
P-value was calculated using chi-square test and difference was accepted significant at more than 95%
(p-value <0.05).
Results: In the present study, the prevalence of thinness and stunting was found to be 25.8% and 29.3%
respectively. Anemia was the predominant micronutrient disorder observed in this study (55.5%) followed
by baldness of tongue (3.5%), goiter (2%), koilonychia (1.5%), angular stomatitis (0.3%) and none had Bitot
spots.
Conclusion: The present study revealed high prevalence of thinness, stunting and anemia reflecting poor
nutritional status among adolescent girls.