Abstract
Background: Adolescent period is a phase of human development comprising the change fromchildhood to adulthood. Nutritional requirements increase to a great extent during this period ascompared to the previous years of growth. Adolescence may represent a window of opportunity toprepare nutritionally for healthy adult life. The present study was intended to assess the nutritionalstatus of school-going adolescent girls. Materials and Methods: This one-year community-based,cross-sectional study was conducted in private high schools in an urban area of Raipur, Chhattisgarhamong 480 adolescent girls of 15-18 years. All the selected adolescent girls were personallyinterviewed with the help of a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire regarding age, type offamily, dietary habits and socioeconomic status. A three-day recall method was used to assessnutrient intake. The nutrient intake was calculated using tables of nutritive value of Indian foods.Results: As per WHO nutritional measurement criteria, children were classified as per theiranthropometric criteria as, 31.46% had moderate stunting and 4.38% were severely stunted. 2.71%had severe thinness, 27.92% were thin and 7.71% were overweight. The major morbidity amongstudy subjects was, 19.6% had conjunctival pallor(anaemia), 8.75% had dental caries, 6.46% hadVitamin B complex deficiency, 4.8% had angular stomatitis and 0.84% had Vitamin A deficiency.Conclusion: The present study recommends that efforts should be made to reduce the prevalenceof malnutrition among adolescent girls. For this regular health check-ups should be done at schoolswith the help of school authorities and hospitals.
Highlights
The term adolescence has been derived from the Latin word “adolescere” which means “to grow up”
The present study recommends that efforts should be made to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition among adolescent girls
There have been around 1.2 billion adolescents in the world, constituting 20% of the global population and 350 million adolescents constituting about 22% of the population in countries of the South-East Asia Region (SEAR)[3]
Summary
The term adolescence has been derived from the Latin word “adolescere” which means “to grow up”. Adolescence may represent a window of opportunity to prepare nutritionally for healthy adult life [7] During this period, adolescents gain up to 50% of their adult weight, 20% of their adult height and 50% of their adult skeletal mass. Adolescence may represent a window of opportunity to prepare nutritionally for healthy adult life. The present study was intended to assess the nutritional status of school-going adolescent girls. Conclusion: The present study recommends that efforts should be made to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition among adolescent girls. For this regular health check-ups should be done at schools with the help of school authorities and hospitals
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