Title: Prevalence of Anemia in School Going Children: A Prospective Study
Authors: Satyanarayan Swarnkar, Narayani Meghwal
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i3.104
Abstract
Background: Anemia is one of the most important health problems throughout the world. Adolescent children are one of the major risk groups for anemia. Low oxygenation of brain tissues, a consequence of anemia, may lead to impaired cognitive function, growth and psychomotor development, especially in children. Hence; we planned the present study to assess the prevalence of anemia among school going children.
Materials & Methods: The present study included assessment of prevalence of anemia in school going children. Net sample size was 200 students. For collection of the health details of the children and the socio-economic status of the patients, we used a preplanned questionnaire. Complete physical examination was done for all children. Venous blood sample was collected in all children under strict aseptic precautions in EDTA anticoagulant for hematological investigations. Recent WHO guidelines were used for grading the anemia on the basis of haemoglobin levels. All the results were recorded and analyzed by SPSS software.
Results: We included a total of 200 school going children in the present study. Severe anemia was present in 0.019 percent of the males study population; while it was present in 0.030 percent of females of the study population.
Conclusion: Anemia was present in higher proportion in females
Keywords: Anemia, Prevalence, School children.
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