Assessment of Nutritional Status among Adolescent Garo in Sherpur District, Bangladesh.
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Date
2013-07
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Abstract
Background: Garo is one of the largest indigenous communities of Bangladesh. Adolescence is a golden
period of time for nutritional promotion. Adolescent nutrition did not receive adequate attention in
Bangladesh. Tribal people like the Garo are even more unaware about the importance of adolescent
nutrition. Objectives: To find out physical growth as well as nutritional status among adolescent Garo
children in Sherpur district on the basis of anthropometric indices. Methods and materials: This cross
sectional descriptive study was conducted among 384 adolescent Garo children (boys and girls) aged 10-
18 years. A structured pre-tested questionnaire and a checklist were used to collect data through interview.
Anthropometric survey of randomly selected adolescent was carried out and compared against the
NCHS/WHO reference indicators such as BMI-for-age, Height-for-age and Weight-for-age. Standard
methods were applied to measure the height and weight of the adolescent and BMI was calculated.
Associations of nutritional status with socio-economic status, maternal working status, family type and
family size were determined. Results: In most of the age groups it is notable that the mean height and
weight of both boys and girls were lower than the WHO/NCHS standards. The prevalence of thinness,
stunting and underweighting was 49.74%, 15.1% and 7.29% respectively. Conclusions: Significant
association between malnutrition and socio-economic parameters was observed. So socio-economic status,
maternal working status, family type and family size are important determinants of nutritional status
of adolescent. Therefore, comprehensive programmes are required to be undertaken for the overall
nutritional development of the Garo population with special focus on the adolescents.
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Keywords
Nutritional status, Adolescence, Anthropometry, Garo, Bangladesh
Citation
Tamanna S, Rana M M, Ferdoushi A, Ishtiyaq Ahmad S A, Rahman M, Rahman A. Assessment of Nutritional Status among Adolescent Garo in Sherpur District, Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science. 2013; 12(3): 269-275.