Frequency of Nutritional Anemia among Medical Students of Faisalabad Medical University, Faisalabad
Abstract
Background: Globally low socioeconomic status leads to high prevalence (89%) of nutritional anemia in developing countries. Objective: For anemia detection, screening is an important tool in identifying the at-risk population, also to determine an individual’s treatment modality. Therefore, we conducted the present study to determine the severity of nutritional anemia among female medical students and to correlate it with Body Mass Index (BMI). Study Design: It was a cross sectional study. Settings: Department of Physiology, Faisalabad Medical University, Faisalabad Pakistan. Duration: Six months, starting from Nov, 2020 to May, 2021. Methods: A total of 151 female students were included in the project. A structured questionnaire was used for taking relevant information about the participants. All the students were divided into two groups, A1 and A2. Group A1 includes only hostelites and group A2 day scholars. All the data of both groups were collected, tabulated and analyzed statistically. Results: Mean age of all the participants was 18.44 ± 0.62. Out of 151 students, 49 (32.45%) students were anemic and 102 (67.54%) were normal. Out of 49 students, 38 (77.55%) students were having mild anemia, 10 had moderate (20.4%) and one was severely anemic (2.04%). Comparing the two groups, A1 (N=96) and A2 (N=55), in group A1, 32 (33.33%) students were anemic and 64 (66.67%) were normal. In group A2, 17 (30.9%) students were anemic and 38 (69.09%) were normal, with significant statistical correlation, p-value =0.001*. On the basis of BMI, 37(24.5%) had normal weight. 34(22.51%) students were labeled as underweight and 80 (52.98%) students were found to be overweight. Conclusion: Comparing the two groups, anemia was more common in hostelites. The irregular diet habits, lack of intake of fruits and vegetables were the contributing factors.