INTRODUCTION: Anemia is a major public health problem worldwide, mainly due to the iron deficiency. Teenagers are at the highest risk of anemia during their adolescent growth spurt. Among girls, however, menstruation increases the risk for iron deficiency anemia throughout their adolescent and childbearing years. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of anemia among adolescent females and to study the socio-demographic factors associated with anemia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls in urban slum area. A total of 267 school going girls between the ages of 11 and 19 years from the area under urban health training center, community medicine department, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, were included in the study. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of anemia among adolescent girls was found to be 52.06%. The statistical association of anemia was found with the socio-economic status of the subjects. The mean height and mean weight of subjects with anemia is less as compared with subjects without anemia. CONCLUSION: The higher prevalence of anemia amongst adolescent girls indicates a major health problem that requires an urgent solution. The factors such as age, literacy status of mother and father are the factors contributing to the prevalence of anemia. Socio-economic status of the family is also linked with the development of anemia.
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Shinde et al. (2015) studied this question.