Asian Journal of Biological and Life Sciences

Original Article

Nutritional status of rural Bengalee girls aged 10-18 years of

Salboni, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India
Kankana De1, Subal Das2, Kaushik Bose3, Raja Chakraborty4*
1Research Scholar, Dept. of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, Medinipur, W.B
2Assistant Professor (ad-hoc), Dept. of Anthropology, GGV, Bilaspur, C.G
3Associate Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University, Medinipur, W.B
4Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, Dinabandhu Mahavidyalaya, Bongoan, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India.

Corresponding author:Dr.Raja Chakraborty, E-mail : rajanth2003@yahoo.co.uk

Submitted : 17.01.2013

Accepted : 06.02.2013

Published : 30.04.2013

Abstract
A cross-sectional study of 749 rural adolescent girls of age 10-18 years of Salboni block Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India was undertaken to
evaluate nutritional status. Anthropometric measurements including weight and height were taken following standard techniques. Body mass index
(BMI) was calculated using international BMI cut-off point for children and adolescence from 2 to 18 years of age. Results revealed that girls of 10
years had highest (65.1 %) prevalence of undernutrition. The overall prevalence of undernutrition was (48.3 %). A significant age difference existed for
weight (F= 41.023, p< 0.001), height (F= 32.907, p< 0.001) and BMI (F= 17.979, p< 0.001). Age difference was also evident (2= 75.214; df= 32; p
<0.001) in nutritional status. It was concluded that the studied rural girls of Salboni block were suffering from very high (critical situation) rate of
undernutrition. Urgent nutritional intervention programme should be given to them.

INTRODUCTION

dolescence is one of the important stages of post-natal

life in view of its significant transitional nature to
biologically reach the highest growth potential to attain
adulthood. It is the period of physical, psychological and social
maturity from childhood to adulthood. Generally, the term
"adolescents" refers to individuals between the ages of 10-19
years and the term "youth" refers to individuals between the ages
of 15-24 years, while "young people" covers the entire age range,
from ages 10-24 years[1]India's demographic and disease profile
and developmental indicators show the disparity between the
male and female, suggesting the existence of gender bias against
the latter. Gender analysis in health care revealed that males and
females had differential exposures to risk, access to benefits of
technology, information, resources and health care, and the
realization of rights[2]. Nutritional status is one of the strongest
indicators of the standard of living in developing world[3].
Undernutrition among children and adolescents is a serious public
health problem internationally, especially in developing
countries[4].
Recently, Cole et al. [5] stated that undernutrition is better
assessed as thinness (low body mass index for age) than as
wasting (low weight for height) suitable age and sex specific
thinness cut-off values for 2-18 years age groups. These new cutoff points were suggested to encourage direct comparison of
trends of thinness in youngsters worldwide and offered a
comprehensive classification of thinness for public health
purposes. Although the adolescents are said to be the wealth of our
country, their health has been neglected on the assumption that
they are less vulnerable to disease than the young children or the
adult. Until the last decade, the adolescent health had not attracted
much attention globally as well as in India [6]. For an instance,
assessment of nutritional status of adolescent girls has been the
least investigated area of research particularly in rural and tribal
areas of India. The findings of studies on school children can not
68

be extrapolated to adolescent girls, as their school enrollment as

well as sustenance are less than that of boys. It was likely that girls
not attending schools belonged to disadvantaged section of
society and contributed significantly in household activities, and
thereby jeopardize their health [7]. With this backdrop this crosssectional study was undertaken to assess the nutritional status of
adolescent rural girls of an Eastern Indian village area.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Data for the present cross-sectional study were collected from
Salboni Rural Hospital, situated in a block (Salboni) of the district
Paschim Medinipur, 25 km away from Medinipur district town.
The sample size consisted of 749 adolescent girls aged 10-18
years. Subjects are Clients of ANWESHA Clinic (Adolescents
Counseling Centre) functioning under Block Public Health
Centers (BPHC) in rural areas of the West Bengal. Adolescent
girls use to come from the local areas or sent from the other
outpatient clinics of the BPHC to this clinic for counseling. The
girls who were physically well and without any serious or
prolonged physical illness were also measured for their weight
and height through standard techniques [8] to evaluate their
nutritional status. Technical errors of measurements (TEM) were
within acceptable limits. The BMI was computed using the
following standard equation: BMI = Weight (kg) / height (m2).
Nutritional status was evaluated using new internationally
accepted age and sex specific BMI cut-off point's[5]. Statistical
analysis was made through Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS-11). Technical errors of measurements (TEM)
were within acceptable limits and thus not incorporated in data
analysis. One way ANOVA was employed to test for age
difference in weight, height and BMI. Chi-square analysis was
done to observe the significance of difference in the prevalence of
nutritional status among the studied subjects.
RESULTS
The mean age of the studied participants were calculated to be

Asian J. Biol. Life Sci. | Jan-Apr 2013 | Vol-2 | Issue-1

Table 1: Age-specific mean height; weight and BMI of the subjects

N
749

ANOVA (N)
*p< 0.0001

Table 2: Nutritional status (%) of the subjects based on BMI cut-off points

2= 75.214; df= 32 ; p <0.001)

14.6 years. It is clear from the Table 1 that there is a steady increase
in height and weight with age. However, 17 years aged girls were
heavier (highest mean weight) (42.04 kg) and 10 years girls were
lighter (lowest mean weight) (27.60 kg) with respect to other girls
of the studied subjects. For height, again 17 years old girls were
taller (highest mean height) (149.93 cm) and 10 years old girls
were shorter (lowest mean height) (134.62 cm) than other age
groups of the studied subjects. Similarly, it was clear from same
table that as the weight and height were maximum for age 17 years,
they poses the highest mean BMI (18.67 kg/m2) and 10 years girls

havd the lowest (15.21 kg/m2) compared to all other age groups.
There were significant age differences in weight (F= 41.023, p<
0.001), height (F= 32.907, p< 0.001) & BMI (F= 17.979, p<
0.001). Although the 18 years girls had little lower
anthropometric values than age 17, Scheffe's post-hoc test
revealed this difference was not statistically significant. The
overall (age-combined) prevalence of thinness and overweight
were 48.3 % and 1.6 %, respectively. The highest prevalence of
thinness was observed at age 10 years. Grade-III thinness was
highest at age 11 years; grade-II and grade-I thinness were the
69

Asian J. Biol. Life Sci. | Jan-Apr 2013 | Vol-2 | Issue-1

highest at age 10. The highest prevalence of thinness was
observed at age 10. Similarly, significant (2=75.214; df= 32; p
<0.001) age-group difference in the nutritional status of the
studied girls was also observed.

grade-III thinness, 76 (10.1 %) suffered from grade-II thinness

and 186 (24.8 %) suffered from grade-I thinness out of 749
subjects. Only 375 (50.1 %) had BMI within normal range (BMI;
18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2). And very few 12 (1.6 %) were overweight.

DISCUSSION

Figure 1 (a) showed the comparison of mean weight (kg) of

the 10-18 years old adolescent girls of the present study with
international [10, 11] and national [10] reference values. It was
quite clear from the figure that rural adolescent girls of Salboni
were lighter than the international reference [10, 11] values and
national reference [12] values (except for ages 13 to 15 years).
Figure 1 (b) showed the comparison of mean height (cm) of the
10-18 years old adolescent girls of present study with
international reference values [10-12] and median national
reference values [12] with present data. It was again clear from
the figure 1 (b) that rural adolescent girls of present study were
shorter than the international values [10-12] at all ages but taller

Very few previous studies described the nutritional status of

adolescent girls from West Bengal state as well as India. To the
best of our knowledge, this is the first report on anthropometric
assessment of adolescents from Salboni, Midnapore district, West
Bengal. The newly developed internationally accepted
anthropometric indicator (thinness) Cole et al., [5] has been utilized
in the present study in view of its current worldwide acceptance as
one of the most convenient ways of nutritional assessment in
population.
In the present study, 100 (13.4 %) subjects suffered from

Figure 1 (a): Comparison of International (NCHS, 1977) & National (ICMR, 2009) weight with present study

Figure 1 (b): Comparison of International (Hamill, 1979; CDC, 2002; WHO, 2006) & National (ICMR, 2009) height with
present study
70

Asian J. Biol. Life Sci. | Jan-Apr 2013 | Vol-2 | Issue-1

Figure 2: Comparative prevalence of thinness among studied population with present study.

than national reference [12] values except for ages 16 to 18 years.

nutritional assessment camp.

Only a handful of studies were conducted using this new

international thinness (BMI) cut-off point worldwide among the
adolescent girls. The prevalence of thinness among studied
adolescent girls was higher (48.3%) than previous studies
conducted in Paschim Medinipur and Purulia districts of West
Bengal (44.5%) [12], Lucknow urban girl (17.0%) [13], Lucknow
rural girl (11.4%) [13], rural girls of North 24 Parganas, West
Bengal (37.8%) [14], affluent girls (Bangalore City) (5.1%) [15], rural
girl (West Bengal) (44.5%) [16], Birhor girl (Purulia) (44.4%) [17]
and tea garden girls (41.3%) [18].The highest prevalence of thinness
was observed among the rural Bangladeshi girls (59.0%) [19].

REFERENCES

CONCLUSION

4.
El Ghannam AR. The global problems of child malnutrition
and mortality in different world regions. J. Health Soc. Policy,
2003; 16(4):1-26.

Thus, we can conclude that the rural adolescent girls of

Salboni, Paschim Medinipur were suffering from very high rate of
undernutrition (in terms of thinness) indicative of a very critical
situation as per WHO guidelines. Health and nutrition
intervention and monitoring programmes, apart from the
psychological support and counseling, should be undertaken to
overcome with the nutritional deprivation. Moreover, similar
studies should be conducted state-wise using this new
internationally accepted cut-off values which will definitely help
to identify the community/population under such nutritional
stress.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All clients visited to the ANWESHA Clinic (Adolescents
counseling centre) were highly appreciated to participate in this

1.
WHO/UNFPA/UNICEF. The Reproductive Health of
Adolescent Strategy for Action. Geneva. 1989.
2.
World Health Organisation. Strategies for adolescent
health and development: South East Asia Region, Report of an
inter-country consultation, WHO: Regional Office of South East
Asia, New Delhi, December 1998; pp.1-4.
3.
Nube, M., AsensoOkyere, W.K., van den Bloom, G.J.M.,
1998. Body mass index as an indicator of standard of living in
developing countries. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr, 77, 11861191.

5.
Cole TJ, Flegal KM, Nicholls D, Jackson AA. Body mass
index cut offs to define thinness in children and adolescents:
international survey. BMJ, 2007; 335: 194.
6.
Kalhan M, Vashisht B, Kumar V, Sharma S. Nutritional
status of adolescent girls of rural Haryana. Internet J. Epidemiol,
2010; 8 (1).
7.
Das S, Mahata M, Bose K. Age-trend in thinness among
Birhor children and adolescents of purulia: a primitive tribe of
West Bengal, India. Asian Journal of Biological and life Sciences,
2012; 1 (1): 58-60.
8.

Hamill PV, Drizd TA, Johnson CL, Reed RB, Roche AF,
71

Asian J. Biol. Life Sci. | Jan-Apr 2013 | Vol-2 | Issue-1

Moore WM. Physical growth: National Center for Health
Staistics Percentiles. Am.J. Clin.Nutr, 1979; 32: 607-629.
9.
CDC- 2000 growth charts for the United States: methods
and development. p. cm.- (DHHS publication; no. (PHS) 20021696) (Vital and health statistics. Series 11, Data from the
National Health Survey; no. 246) May, 2002.
10. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Nutrient
Requirement and Recommended dietary Allowances for Indians:
A Report of the Expert Group of the Indian Council of Medical
Research. New Delhi: ICMR, 2009.
11. WHO. Multicentre Growth Reference Study Group. WHO
Child Growth Standards. Length/Height for age, Weight for age,
Weight for length and Body Mass Index for age. Methods and
development. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2006.
12. Bose K, Bisai S. Prevalence of undernutrition among rural
adolescents of West Bengal, India. J. Trop. Pediatr, 2008; 54: 422423.
13. Sachan B, Idris MZ, Jain S, Kumari R, Singh A. Nutritional
status of school going adolescent girls in Lucknow District. J Med
Nutr Nutraceut, 2012; 1:101-5.
14. Das DK, Biswas R. Nutritional status of adolescent girls in
a rural area of North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal. Indian J
Public Health, 2005; 49:18-21.
15. Sood A, Sundararaj P, Sharma S, Kurpad AV, Muthayya S.
BMI and body Fat percent: Affluent adolescent girls in Bangalore
City. Indian Pediatr, 2007; 44:587-91.
16. Bose K, Bisai S. Nutritional status of rural adolescent
school children in Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal. Indian
Pediatr, 2008; 45:515-6.
17. Das Subal, Mahata Mileva, Bose Kaushik. Age-trend in
thinness among Birhor children and adolescents of purulia: a
primitive tribe of West Bengal, India. Asian Journal of Biological
and life Sciences, 2012; 1 (1): 58-60.
18. Shahabuddin AK, Talukder K, Talukder MK, Hassan M,
Seal A, Rahman Q, et al. Adolescent nutrition in a rural
community in Bangladesh. Indian J Pediatr, 2000; 67:93-8.
19. Medhi GK, Hazarika NC, Mahanta J. Nutritional Status of
Adolescents among Tea Garden Workers. Ind. J. Pediatr, 2007;
74- April: 343-347.

72