Nutritional status in adolescent girls: Attempt to determine its prevalence and its association with sociodemographic variables

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of malnutrition among adolescent girls and to assess the association of nutrition with sociodemographic variables. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescent girls aged 16-19 years. Data regarding sociodemographic variables were collected by administration of a prestructured, pretested questionnaire. Height and weight were measured by standardized techniques in a sample of 700 adolescents. BMI was calculated. IBM SPSS Statistics version 22 was used to determine proportions and for chi-square analysis, independence tests, and binary logistic regression. Results: We found 36.2% of adolescent girls were malnourished, among whom 33.7% were obese and 66.3% were undernourished. Conclusion: Age and education of the mother and father were found to be significantly associated with malnutrition.