Haemoglobin

Anaemia is major public health problem in female about 25-50% girls become anaemic by the time they reach the age of menarche. During adolescence period need for iron is increased and also there is further increase due to regular menstrual loss. In developing countries, the high iron demands are not met, mainly because of the poor diet of low iron bioavailability & frequent parasitic infection, thus leading to higher incidence of anaemia in women & girls. Thus, an adolescent who conceives soon after menarche is likely to start pregnancy with depleted iron store1. Keeping all these in mind this study was conducted to investigate the haemoglobin level of the female adolescent students studying Azam Campus, Pune, Maharashtra. To investigate the status of anaemia among adolescent female students of Azam Campus, Pune, Maharashtra. Cross sectional prevalence study of sample size 500 was conducted among students from the primary secondary, higher secondary and junior college and U.G classes of Azam Campus, Pune. The study was designed on two parameters the first one was questionnaire-based scale (subjective parameter) and second was evaluation of haemoglobin percentage through Sahli’s method as an objective scale.2 Prevalence of anemia was found to be 91.8%.

  Lack of awareness about anaemia among well educated girl students in a university as well as a lack of a demonstrable methodology to combat it. To assess- the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia and its awareness among female students, the effectiveness of  different treatment modalities on their haemoglobin level and suggest methods to overcome nutritional anaemia. A randomised controlled study of 94 girl students with. Group 1-Control Group (31), Group 2- Vitamin C Group (31) and Group 3 - Iron and Vitamin C Group (32) was undertaken. Albendazole 400mgm, two doses two weeks apart were given to all the respondents. Subgroup 2 respondents were given 100 mgs of Vitamin C/day while subgroup 3 respondents were given 60mgms of elemental iron, 7.5mcg Vit.B12 and 1.5mgm folic acid/day along with 100mgm of Vit.C/day for a period of 90 days. Haemoglobin estimation was done at the start of the study and at the end of 90 days of supplementation. After 90 days of interventions, the proportion of mild anaemia increased from 34.04 %( 32) to 43.61% (41), while that of moderate anaemia decreased from 67.96% (62) to 39.37% (37).Sixteen (17.02%) girls attained normal range of haemoglobin after the interventions .The difference in the prevalence of anaemia before and after the interventions was statistically significant in the experimental subgroups 2 & 3.There is an urgent need to address anaemia curse in educational institutions through a longitudinal testing and provision of supplements. Key Words: Iron Deficiency, Anaemia, Vitamin C, Adolescent Girls, Awareness, Haemoglobin