Anaemia Frequency and its Socioeconomic and Dietary Determinants among Teenage School Girls of Karachi

Abstract

Objective: To assess the frequency of anaemia and to determine its socioeconomic and dietary de- terminants among teenage school girls of Karachi.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from January to July, 2015. The study subjects were chosen from four schools, two each  from  high  socioeconomic  and  poor  neighbourhoods  of  Karachi.  Our study was conducted on 497 school girls aged 13 to 18 years, who were enrolled by employing convenient sampling, after informed consent of parents and principal of the school. All study subjects were interviewed using a questionnaire, clinically examined for signs  of  anaemia  and  measurements taken for anthropometric and haemoglobin estimation.

Results:  The primary study outcome was the anaemia status of the study participants as determined by their haemoglobin level using a cut  off  of  11  gm/dl.  The  study  results  showed  that  only  167  (36.5%) of the participants were anaemic and majority of them was negative for signs of skin pallor  (66.6%), conjunctival pallor (79.8%),  koilonychia  (95.8%)  or  brittle  hair  (86.4%).  The  factors  found  to be significantly associated with anaemia included lower socioeconomic status (p<0.0001),  paternal  illiteracy (p=0.022) and paternal unemployment (p<0.0001). Furthermore, the study findings  also  re-  vealed infrequent consumption of eggs (p=0.015), milk (p=0.019), spinach/green leafy  vegetables  (p=0.004)  and  chocolates/candies/biscuits/cakes  (p=0.039)  to  be  significantly  associated  with anaemia.

Conclusion: The study suggest that frequency of anaemia in teenage school girls was significantly associated with  lower  socioeconomic  status,  paternal  illiteracy,  unemployment,  infrequent  consump- tion of eggs, milk, spinach/green leafy  vegetables  and  chocolates/candies/biscuits/cakes.  Hence,  urgent needs of improving paternal illiteracy, decreasing unemployment and increasing educational  awareness in teenage girls regarding the consumption of iron rich foods.