Prevalence of anemia among school going adolescents of Chandigarh

This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of anemia and determine serum ferritin status among 1120 apparently healthy adolescents (12 to 18 years) sampled from 11 city and 2 rural schools in Chandigarh. All the boys and the girls were subjected to anthropometric examination and hemoglobin estimation. The estimation of hemoglobin was done by cyanmethemoglobin method. Serum ferritin was estimated by ELISA (UB1 Magiwel enzyme immuno assay) method in 183 students. The overall prevalence of anemia calculated as per WHO Guidelines was significantly higher among girls (23.9%) as compared to boys (odds ratio--3.75, 95% CI--2.59 to 5.43, P < 0.01). Anemia was observed more in rural (25.4%) as compared to urban (14.2%) adolescents (OR--0.49, 95% CI--0.34 to 0.70, P < 0.01). Iron stores estimated by serum ferritin in 183 subjects were deficient in 81.7% and 41.6% of the adolescent girls and boys, respectively.