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Anemia is a significant public health problem in Bangladesh especially in developing countries, affecting the lives of many children, adolescents and women every year. Over the last four decades, data on the prevalence of anemia indicated high in adolescents, without any trend for improvement. Thus the Author undertakes to assess the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia and its associated risk factors among adolescent girls. A cross sectional survey was conducted among adolescent girls selected purposively from different non government High School. Hematological parameters, Body Mass Index (BMI), Socioeconomic, demographic and related risk factors were obtained by a well defined questionnaire and appropriate biochemical method. There were 17.5% girls were suffering from iron deficiency anemia. Among them 0.8% severe, 5.8% moderate and 10.9% were mild anemic. In this study 31.82% and 9.21% found anemic in joint and nuclear family. Most of anemic patients found in the family whose family member more than 8. About 66.67 % anemic adolescents were identified whose family's monthly income less than 6000 TK. About 23.08% anemic respondent's parents were illiterate. There was a strong relationship between BMI (Body Mass Index) and anemia. The P value of the association was 0.038 is statistically significant. Most of the respondents about 85.8% had no idea about iron deficiency anemia. Most of the anemic were found 5 days or more menstrual blood flow. All the anemic girls usually intake 5.21 mg irons per day that is not available to meet the daily requirement. So it is essential to increase awareness about taking more iron during adolescent period to reduce the prevalence of anemia.
Md. Shamim Miah . (Wed,) studied this question.