Risk factors associated with anaemia among adolescent girls: a cross sectional study in District Peshawar, Pakistan.
Objectives
To assess the risk factors associated with anaemia among adolescent girls.


METHODS
The cross-sectional study was conducted at 10 schools in district Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and comprised adolescent girls aged 10-14 years who were divided into two equal groups on the basis of haemoglobin levels; group 1 had those with haemoglobin <12, and group 2 12gm/dl. Anthropometric measurements were taken and haemoglobin concentration was determined by the Hemo'cue method. Physical activity was determined by Modified Harvard step test, cognitive functions were assessed by Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. SPSS 16 was used for data analysis.


RESULTS
Of the 100 subjects, 50(50%) each were in the two groups. Illiteracy rate was significantly higher among the fathers and mothers of group 1 girls (p0.05). Mean haemoglobin in group 1 was 10.28±1.33 g/dl and group 2 12.73±0.58 g/dl. Mean number of steps climbed by group 1 girls were 154.6±54.6 and a longer period of time was taken to recover the basal pulse rate by them compared to group 2 counterparts (p0.05). The mean resting pulse rate in group 1 was significantly higher compared to group 2 (p0.05). Also, group 1 scored significantly lower in the cognitive function test(p0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Socio-economic status, parent education, body mass index, physical work capacity, cogn itive func tion of anaemic girls was significa ntly lower than non anaemic girls.
['Khan|Abbas|A|', 'Chawla|Rattan Kaur|RK|', 'Guo|Mingruo|M|', 'Wang|Cuina|C|']
D000293:Adolescent D000740:Anemia D002648:Child D003071:Cognition D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005080:Exercise Test D005260:Female D006339:Heart Rate D006454:Hemoglobins D006801:Humans D000067010:Literacy D010154:Pakistan D012307:Risk Factors
Anaemia, Cognitive function, Physical work capacity, Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices.