Prevalence of Nutritional Deficiency Anaemia and Its Impact on Scholastic Performance among Undergraduate Medical Students.

Abstract

Nutritional deficiency anaemia can lead to development of headache, fatigue, lethargy, apathy, exertional dyspnoea, palpitations and tinnitus and thereby decrease the quality of everyday life to a great extent. Such symptoms may pose a hindrance for students in their academic life and have a negative impact on their career. To determine prevalence of nutritional deficiency anaemia and its correlation with academic performance among medical students. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Adichunchanagiri Institute of Medical Sciences. Two hundred eighty nine healthy undergraduate medical students of both genders were included in this study. A predesigned and pre-structured questionnaire was used as a tool to obtain information regarding demographic profile, dietary habits and academic performance. Haemoglobin level was estimated. Student's t-test and Chi-square test were employed. Majority of the participants were within the age group of 17-20 years (84.4%). The overall prevalence of anaemia was 15.6% with high rates among female students (93.3%), this gender difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). There was statistically significant difference in Hb% (p=0.009) among high and low performers. There was no association between the anaemic status and students scholastic performance (χ2=3.1533, p=0.368). The mean haemoglobin level was higher among low performer, indicating that nutritional anaemia may not \play a major role in educational performance and intelligence in higher education.