Assessment of nutritional status of school going adolescents in rural and urban area of north karnataka: A comparative study

Abstract

Adolescence is an important stage of growth and development in the lifespan. Unmet nutritional needs lead to several public health problems such as stunted and retarded growth, impaired mental development, anaemia.Assessment and comparison of nutritional status of school going adolescents of rural and urban area and the factors affecting the nutritional status of adolescents.An observational study was conducted among the school going adolescents (10-19 years) studying in government schools in rural and urban area. A pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire was used for socio-demographic profile. Detailed clinical examination including head to toe examination, anthropometry and systemic examination was done to assess the nutritional status.Data was entered in MS Excel and analysed using SPSS and MS Excel. The statistical significance was evaluated at 95% confidence level (p<0.05). Result will be represented in tables.Eyes appeared paler in 27.22% of rural adolescents compared to 19.44% of urban. Overall prevalence of malnutrition among adolescents was 284 (78.89%) i.e.,75.56% in rural and 82.22% in urban area, in which prevalence ofunder-weight was 269 (74.72%) more in urban 137 (76.11%) compared to rural area 132 (73.33%).Prevalence of malnutrition (underweight, overweight and obesity) was more in urban area (76.11%) compared to rural area (73.33%) based on IAP-BMIcriteria.