Medical health status of adolescent school going girls in rural western Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Background:According to WHO, adolescents are the young people aged between 10 to 19 years. It is a transitional stage of physiological and psychological development from puberty to legal adulthood. Health needs of adolescents require special attention from the family, community and the society.Aims and objectives: The prime objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of common medical health morbidities in school going adolescent girls of rural western Uttar Pradesh.Material and methods:This was a cross sectional study conducted over two years in tertiary healthcare in western Uttar Pradesh. A total of 1000 adolescent (10-19 years) girls from 12 schools (both government and private) situated in nearby districts were included. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics test was used to analyse the collected data.Results:Of total girls, 19.2% were underweight and 10.4% were overweight. Anaemia was reported in 58.6%of which majority had mild to moderate anaemia. Menstrual problem was reported in 26.8% in which most common was dysmenorrhea (13.7%). Visual field defects were found in 12.3% and hearing problem was reported in 1.7% of girls which was mostly conductive type. Acne, dandruff, hirsutism and others infections was found among 13%, 4.6%, 4.1% and 2.3% of the girls respectively. Conclusion:A multidimensional approach covering all health problems in needed. Mass Screening in schools could be an effective tool to control the existing disease and to prevent occurrence of any new diseases.