‘‘To study the prevalence of anaemia among the nursing students and Nutritional correlates, A Cross Sectional study.’’

Authors:
Dr.Suvarna Patil,Dr.Vinod Wasnik,Dr.Rishikesh wadke

Background:
More than half the population in India is younger than 25, and 60-70% adolescents, particularly unmarried girls are suffering from Anaemia.
Anaemia is the most common form of malnutrition in the world and is the eight leading cause of disease in girls in the developing countries. Its estimated prevalence in the South –East-Asia is 50-70%. Whereas severe anaemia is closely related to risk of mortality, even mild anaemia carries health risks and reduces the capacity of working. The anaemia during younger age can have an adverse impact on future pregnancies. In India the problem of malnutrition received recognition of planners and policy makers right from the inception of five year planning, a large number of National Nutrition Programme were implemented to combact the menace of malnutrition. However malnutrition still persists. The high rate of maternal mortality is the result of poor health status of younger girls, who are married off even before their attaining full maturity. So, to cope up the problem of anaemia in younger age and to reduce the complication of future pregnancies the following research was conducted.

Objective:
1. To know the pattern of anaemia among the nursing students and it's Nutritional correlates.
2. Recommendations based on findings

Methodology:
Total 65 Nursing students participated in the the study and the variables were age, social class, dietary habits, worm infestation and BMI. Total respondents were subjected to General and Systemic examination, Hemoglobin estimation by the (Shahels method), complete blood examination, Urine Routine & microscopy and Stool examination. For the purpose of study anaemia was defined as per WHO norms. The Study was conducted in the institution from April 2008 to August 2008 under the auspices of Pathology department and with the ethical approval from the Institution where all laboratory investigation were undertaken.

Results:
As per the severity of the problem, anaemia was moderate but the prevalence was high - 50.8%. According to WHO Criteria, it was found that 4.6% were severe anaemic followed by 7.6% Moderate and 38.6% were Mild anaemic. 49.2% were found to be Normal. Microscopic examination of blood reveals Hypo- chromic picture. Statistically significant difference was seen in relation to anaemia with stool examination and BMI.

Conclusion:
The present study indicates high prevalence of anaemia among the nursing Students correlates with various factors.