Life style risk factors of Iron deficiency Anemia among adolescents’ girls

Abstract

Adolescence is a journey from the world of the child to the world of the adult. Adolescence is very important since it is the time in life when major physical, psychological and behavioural changes take place. The potential synergistic effects of unhealthy lifestyle behaviours on the risk of chronic conditions as iron deficiency anaemia and health outcomes among adolescents’ girls are a key issue for their health. Aim:  this study aimed to identify the life style risk factors of iron deficiency anemia among adolescents’ girls. Design: A case control study design Setting: The study was accompanied at one school from urban and eight from rural preparatory school girls. Subjects: The total number of the randomly selected girls was 240 preparatory school girls (120 girl students as cases who have anemia and the same number of non-anemic girls recruited in control group). Tool: data was collected using one toolentitled adolescent girl's structured interview questionnaire Results: according to multivariate analysis logistic regression the factors which showed significant relation to students with iron deficiency anemia were many.Concerning factors related to demographic characteristic, father's occupation, Underachiever students, Mother’s education, Place of residence, and low monthly family income.Moreover factors related to sleeping pattern and activity practices included physical inactivity, absence of nap sleep hours. With respect to risk factors related to student's feeding practices, the observable risk factor for iron deficiency anemia was not consumed snacks. Additionally other factors were found as not eating daily breakfast, eating less than 2 meals/day and time of drinkingtea. Conclusions & Recommendations: There is significant association of iron deficiency anemia with adolescents’ girls’some socio-demographic characteristics and their activities related to life style.  Subsequently, there is requisite to increase awareness of anemia among adolescent girls and their parents.